Misfits
by bearandtheangel
Summary: High school AU in which the children of the opposing sides of an old rivalry find they have much more in common than they first expected. The story of misfits, love, heartbreak, and friendship. Percy/Annabeth, Nico/Leo and slight Piper/Jason, Hazel/Frank POSSIBLE HOH SPOILERS
1. Chapter 1

High School AU in which the children of the two opposing sides of an ancient rivalry find they have much more in common than they first expected. And as hard as they try, they can't resist what's happening between them. Percy/Annabeth, Leo/Nico(/Calypso), slight Piper/Jason(/Reyna) and Hazel/Frank

**Chapter One: Percy Meets His New Tutor**

Percy Jackson hated his dyslexia.

Mr Brunner had been his teacher for the majority of his sophomore year and this was in itself both a good and a bad thing. Good, because Mr Brunner never made Percy feel inadequate even when he couldn't understand half of what he was supposed to be learning from the textbook. Bad, because Mr Brunner had a certain look about him, that when Percy got another F- on a weekly pop quiz, made him feel like a major screw up.

Mr Brunner didn't embarrass him; instead of calling him out in front of the whole class, he simply stopped by his desk and said in a low tone, "I'll see you after class?"

Percy slumped down in his chair and huffed.

The class ended and Percy made sure he took his time packing away his things, even when his best friend Grover Underwood tapped his shoulder and exclaimed, "Come on, man, they're serving _enchiladas_ today!"

Percy inwardly groaned – even if he didn't like them as much as Grover did, he liked enchiladas as much as the next kid – and swung his backpack over his shoulder; he was aware Mr Brunner was tapping his pencil expectantly on his desk from the front of the room.

"I'll meet you in a bit," Percy said, "I just need to collect something."

He knew that Grover knew about his academic problems, but he never said anything about them. Now was one of those times. He nodded, glanced helplessly at Mr Brunner and then walked out – slowly, because he still had a limp from an old accident and had to rely on a walking stick.

Mr Brunner waited until Grover was gone to address Percy, who was twitching in anticipation. His mind was spinning with all different scenarios. Would Mr Brunner call his mom again? Would he make him take one of those workshops after school which never ever worked? Would he make him take a class with freshmen?

Instead, Mr Brunner said, "I think we need to get you a tutor."

"A _tutor_?" Percy repeated. "Like that lady who helps Grover with his Spanish?"

Mr Brunner stared at him blankly, and Percy wondered whether or not he was supposed to say that. "Perseus," his teacher said, and he flinched at the mention of his full name, which was only ever used when Percy was being uncooperative. "I think you need to take this a little more seriously."

"I am taking this seriously," Percy protested, although he would admit he snickered a little at the thought of Grover bragging about having a really hot tutor when all Percy had was Mr Brunner who occasionally gave him lunchtime recaps. He wondered what his tutor would be like, and how Grover would react.

"I know it's hard for you," Mr Brunner was saying. Percy almost wanted to tune him out, because everybody from his mother to _Grover_ had said this to him a dozen times. He'd heard the lectures and the pitiful pep talks but he never got anything from them except annoyance.

Mr Brunner scribbled on a piece of paper and handed it to him. Percy looked down at it, momentarily distracted and said, "Huh? What for?"

His teacher narrowed his eyes and sighed. "I just told you. The classroom number and name of your tutor."

"Oh," Percy said.

"She knows you're coming, by the way, so I wouldn't recommend meeting Grover yet. She's not somebody you want to disappoint."

"Wait, I have to go _now_? What about lunch? I'm starving!"

"You're always starving," Mr Brunner noted, and then he slipped his glasses onto his nose. He might've frowned a little. "It's the only time she's available, and she'll only keep you for a little while. She has lots of other students who need her help, so you're lucky to get this opportunity."

"Right, right." Percy sighed. Well, he'd better be going. He didn't want to disappoint somebody else – at least without meeting them first. He waved goodbye to Mr Brunner and left, feeling slightly bummed out that he wouldn't be meeting Grover for enchiladas until later on. He hoped his best friend knew to save him a few.

He walked on through the halls of his high school, kicking a piece of crumbled paper along the way. He hoped his tutor would go easy on him; really, with having ADHD as well as dyslexia, it was hard for him to pay attention even in one-on-one lessons. It wasn't just his reading that was the problem.

He reached the classroom, which was unfairly situated right next to the cafeteria, so he could smell the food. It would be so hard to focus on learning with that there, but at least he didn't have to run from Africa to get to the cafeteria. Maybe it would even motivate him.

In his food-centered thoughts, he barely realised he was standing in the doorway of the classroom, his hand raised to knock on a door that had since been opened. A tall, burly girl with dirty blonde hair and a horribly ugly snarl glared at him, and he tried for his winning smirk. (Usually, it looked more like a confused grimace, but nobody ever told him this.)

With no luck, as usual, the girl barged past him, cursing, sending him flying through the doorway and banging his leg on a table. In the few seconds that it had happened, a blonde girl who had been leaning over a table looked up, a look of pure distaste on her face.

"_Clarisse_ was that really – _oh_. Percy Jackson."

Percy was staring. The blonde girl had a deep tan and looked vaguely familiar, but it was her eyes that both scared and hypnotised him. A startling gray, they were narrowed in his direction, looking like she was studying him on a battlefield. He could almost see her mind whirling with thoughts of dislike towards him already. She was really pretty, but pretty frightening too.

"Uh, hey," he said. He wanted to reach down and rub the sore spot on his leg where the mean girl had banged him into the table – which sent a few stationary pieces flying – but he was wringing his hands together instead, nervous.

Completely ignoring him, the girl looked down and carried on helping somebody work out what looked like a complicated math equation. Percy wondered, amused, whether or not Ms. Dodds was his teacher – if so, he was majorly screwed. The woman, if you could call her that, was the scariest living thing he had ever met, with a strange liking to picking on teenagers.

"Hi," Percy tried again. "So should I just sit here or–"

Slowly, the girl looked up. She was glaring again. Great. Percy had already managed to screw up – although he wasn't quite sure what he'd done wrong – and he'd only been there a good five minutes.

She sighed, and instructed the boy she was helping to close his math book, saying loudly that she'd have to help him another time and _sorry for the interruption_. However, Percy noticed cockily that the boy gave him a look of thankfulness. Glad to know he wasn't the only one scared in there.

"Well?" the girl said once the door swung shut behind her other student. "Are you going to stand up for the whole session or are you going to sit down so I can help you?"

_Rude_, Percy thought, but all he did was sit down at one of the front desks and drag out his English book hopefully.

With what seemed to be amusement, the girl, who reached from behind her ear to pull out a pen, looked down at the book. "You need help finding Nemo?"

"What?"

Dazed, Percy looked down and saw that, sure enough, he hadn't pulled out his English book but his school planner where he kept his timetable and homework schedule. On the front, his friend Piper had plastered a large sticker of Nemo the clownfish. Percy felt a lot like a clown at this moment.

"It's an inside joke. I'm captain of the swim team," he said, but he felt like he was blushing a lot.

Thankfully, the girl didn't seem much like the joker type, and she pulled out a chair to sit opposite him. "I'm Annabeth Chase," she said, "but I trust Mr Brunner has already told you that."

Percy remembered that on the little piece of paper from his teacher, Annabeth's name was written, but that piece of paper was in his schoolbag and he'd forgotten straight away. "Percy Jackson," he told her, "but you already know that. Brunner told me he told you."

"Yeah." Annabeth frowned for whatever reason. "Brunner – I mean, Mr Brunner" – she looked at Percy disapprovingly – "told me. Sure."

Percy felt a chill rise up his neck. Annabeth was acting weird, and though he wasn't brilliant at reading people, he had a feeling she was hiding something from him. But, as soon as the feeling appeared, Annabeth shook her head and her natural expression returned.

"Put Nemo away," she ordered. "We have work to do."

...

He sat with Annabeth for longer than he'd liked – and expected – and after a while he was starting to feel tired. Annabeth had asked if there was anything Percy really struggled on. He said yes, and pulled out his Latin book, which was the other class Mr Brunner taught him besides English. He didn't want to admit that he struggled with anything – really, Annabeth had stacks of books on her desk and he wanted to impress her with all his knowledge – but she could tell when he was bluffing.

"Nah. I'm actually really good at algebra and – what are you doing?"

Annabeth pencilled in 'algebra' on the mock timetable they were making. Annabeth was writing whatever subjects Percy struggled on most, and so far they were most of them. At least P.E. wasn't there. He felt smug knowing that he was actually very athletic, even though Annabeth appeared it too. _Whatever_, he thought.

"I thought I said I didn't need help on math."

Annabeth sighed. "Percy, I'm sorry, but looking through your math book is hard for me. It seems dyslexia isn't your only problem."

Percy had been slumping in his chair while Annabeth wrote. Of course she knew everything, that much was clear even in the short amount of time they'd known each other, but he tried to call her out on things occasionally, which only made her appear to hate him more.

He thought about this as finally, _finally_, Annabeth packed away her things and tightened her messy ponytail which had fallen looser over the course of the tutoring session. Percy gripped his pen tight, searching for a last minute opportunity to own Annabeth, when she turned and addressed him.

"So we'll meet every lunch–"

"After I've eaten–"

"Don't interrupt me, Seaweed Brain. We'll meet here and for each marked day you'll bring the appropriate textbook for that lesson. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Percy said obediently, although he was still a little miffed he couldn't find something that he was better than Annabeth at. Maybe over the course of the next few weeks or however long these sessions where to go on he would find something.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Alright. See you tomorrow then."

"See you."

Just as he was leaving, another kid in his grade walked in and waved to Annabeth, who smiled at him. Percy left, wondering why it was him who Annabeth – should he call her Ms. Chase? – didn't like. Had he really offended her when he bumped into the table? That, to be fair to him, wasn't his fault. Clarisse La Rue, who had had it out for him since they were freshmen, was the one at fault there.

At least he still had half an hour of lunch left to enjoy enchiladas with his friends. Pushing open the door, he went over to his typical table where Grover and a bunch of other kids in their year sat, chatting over empty trays. He walked up, stomach rumbling in anticipation, when Grover looked up and frowned.

"And just where have you been?"

"Getting my butt handed to me by a girl by the name of Annabeth Chase," he answered, sitting down and unfolding a foil-wrapped enchilada Piper had just handed to him.

Leo Valdez, who was constructing little pipe-cleaner airplanes and making them fly across an impressive length of the cafeteria, whistled lowly. His curly black hair was mussed with oil, as usual, and his impish grin implied he'd recently gotten away with a great prank that Percy had no doubt he'd start telling him all about soon.

"What?" he asked through a mouth full of enchilada. He wasn't really talking to Leo as much as he was Grover and Piper, who were giving him impressed/worried looks.

"You don't know Annabeth Chase?" Piper asked with a little laugh. Percy shook his head.

"Should I? Did she win the spelling bee last year?"

"Probably," Leo said. "She's, like, a total genius. But does anybody even care about those types of things? I think not."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Leo, you know Grover competed in one of those."

"In third grade!" Grover said. "And I only didn't win because of that little Puerto Rican girl. What was her name?"

"Who cares?" Leo said. "She competed in a spelling bee. She's _obviously_ not cool enough to know the name of."

"Leo!" Piper said.

At the same time, Percy looked between his friends, annoyed. Couldn't they just give him a simple answer? He didn't care about spelling bees – although the idea of Grover competing in one was pretty hilarious – all he wanted to know about was why Annabeth Chase was such a big deal.

Piper noticed him looking lost and gave him a sympathetic pat on the hand. "She's just not one of us, Percy," she said, which didn't explain anything, but gave him enough ground to stand on.

"So that means she can't tutor me? We have plans for the rest of the week at least."

"Good luck," Leo said as one of his latest airplanes landed on the hairnet of a dinner lady. He snickered, looking to the table innocently, even though it was clear by a mile who was the culprit and he knew it.

"You'll need it," Grover added.

Percy felt defeated. "Pipes?"

"Ignore them losers," she said, hitting her two friends upside the head, earning two low groans from each of them. "Annabeth's nice and you'll be fine. In fact, she lives near me. Sometimes she gets my bus."

Percy thought about that, even after lunch had finished. Piper was rich, albeit not_ Drew Tanaka _rich but more humble and even embarrassed at her wealth. She hated it. But that was a long story. If Annabeth lived near Piper, who lived in a gated community, did that mean Annabeth was rich too? Is that what Piper meant when she said Annabeth wasn't like him?

But she'd said _us_...

As he walked into the hallway, the final bell ringing, his last math class of the week behind him, he spotted his friends Beckendorf and Jake and relaxed a little bit. Who knew tutoring could make him so tense?

"Jackson!" Jake called obnoxiously loudly, raising his hand for a high five. Beckendorf rolled his eyes, but crushed Percy in a one-armed hug.

"Ready to be slaughtered at practise?" Jake asked, ringing his calloused hands. Really, Jake didn't excel at athletics and Percy was the real star athlete, but they liked to kid around. Same way Percy didn't know anything about building and engineering and mechanics like Jake and Beckendorf did.

Will Solace, another jock, walked up to join them, and they settled into their usual relaxed mode. Distracted, Percy glanced to his right to wave at Rachel Elizabeth Dare, one of his closest friends, but instead locked eyes with Annabeth Chase.

As fast as lightning, Annabeth looked away, crossing her arms. Percy cocked his head to one side, still watching her, watching as she smiled at something Silena Beauregard was gushing about. Probably Beckendorf.

On that note, Beckendorf slipped out of the conversation and tapped Percy's shoulder, which shouldn't have hurt but with his huge hands hurt a lot. Percy rubbed it, finally looking away, while realising why Beckendorf was so tense and uptight all of a sudden and –

"Oh, no, man. Not Silena." Percy shook his head, and then cleared his throat. How should he put it? Telling Grover and the others was fine, but Beckendorf and Will and especially Jake... they were a bit too much, a bit too like typical teenage boys. "It's... never mind."

Beckendorf shook his head, glanced tentatively at Silena, and then sighed. "Come on, dude. We're gonna be late."

Percy nodded. For some reason, as they were walking away, he glanced back at Annabeth, something compelling him to. As if by script, Annabeth turned, too, equally compelled or maybe not really looking at him but still...

They locked eyes. This time Annabeth didn't break it and neither did he. But she was glaring and he tried his – bless him – confused smirk and she just shook her head, crossed her arms and disappeared around the corner.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Nico di Angelo Hates A Lot Of Things**

There were few things Nico di Angelo hated more than public school.

He could think of some solid examples, but in comparison to having to come _here,_ with people like _them_ – he glanced around him distastefully – made his stomach turn horribly. He hated public school. And he hated his stupid absent father for sending him here.

He felt a hand softly brush past his and looked up, startled. Of course it was only Hazel, his half-sister, who was standing beside him with a slight smile that spoke volumes. Hazel knew what he was going through. She had been sent here too just a few months before Nico. Although, judging by the fact she was holding hands with a tall, burly Asian (who looked like he wanted to run away and was as red as a tomato), she hadn't had a hard time fitting in.

Nico didn't actively hate everybody. People just tended to avoid him and ignore him, and he really, really didn't fit in anywhere, so he couldn't just third-wheel any other friendship groups, could he?

Hazel squeezed his hand then let go. "You'll be fine. Everybody's really nice here. And you must know some of them, right? Through Dad?"

Nico was surprised Hazel had called their father "dad". Usually she called him by his first name or not at all. She hated him. (But not more than he hated public schools.) Anyway, he did know some of them. Percy Jackson. (He shuddered, pushing that aside.) Piper McLean. (Sort of. He didn't care much for her though.) Rachel, who was nice enough but was a little loud and eccentric and tiring to be around. All through his dad's former position on the city council.

"Yeah," he agreed absently.

"I promise I won't let anything happen," Hazel said, which was sweet but unnecessary. Nico could take care of himself. Hazel turned to her friend, tapping his arm. "Hey, Frank, tell Nico."

Frank stuttered his way through a pathetic attempt at a reassurance, and Hazel beamed, blushing.

"Yeah. I'll find a place," Nico lied. Hesitantly, he leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Then he waved at her much-too-tall friend Frank and watched them leave, with Hazel patting the guy's arm like she was congratulating him for a completing a hard task.

Said hard task: conversing (barely) with Nico, the social outcast and new misfit of this stupid, lousy, despised public school.

...

Nico walked down the hall, brushing off invisible crumbs from his fitted black button-down coat, watching the other students. Just watching. They stood in their respective groups – the jocks, nerds, glee club, popular girls, etc. He didn't recognise anybody, but he was pretty sure some people recognised him. As soon as they looked into his ("_Intense_," Hazel said) eyes, they looked away and started fumbling with buttons on their jackets or hairpins or hems of their ridiculously large letterman jackets.

They were scared of him.

Just as he started mulling this over in his head, he turned a corner and almost walked into a huge – like, the size of Hazel's Frank – boy with a buzzcut and an earring. He was wearing a dirty t-shirt, and Nico felt instantly repulsed.

Buzzcut Boy was leaning over somebody. A scrawny Latino with curly black hair and babyish, elfin features. Nico backed away, looking around him at the students in the corridor who were just walking past this like it wasn't happening. Some glanced at the kid, but they kept on going as though they didn't want to get involved.

Nico was pretty sure he knew what was happening. He'd never seen anybody ever get bullied, because the schools he had went to prior to this one had very, very strict rules against imbeciles (and he doubted anybody that filthy would be allowed in anyway), but he'd heard all about it.

Before Bianca died, she'd even told him about –

His heart started to hurt. How had Bianca come into this? Distracted, he backed away a few steps as – oh, _no –_ the boy was raising his fist and grabbing onto the kid's collar and Nico saw him flinch and –

"_Hey_!" he heard somebody shout.

A group of kids started pacing down the hallway toward the bully and the boy, looking like a group of superhero misfits there to save the day. A Native American with a feather in her hair; a boy who walked like he had goat legs; a large African-American dude with a lot of muscles. But none of them had been the one who shouted.

Nico's heart sped up and he hated it, oh he hated everything. (Maybe even more than public school.)

Because the group of superhero misfits were led by none other than Percy Jackson.

Buzzcut Boy was just momentarily distracted, but it was enough for the scrawny boy to slide away from his grasp and fall into the Native American girl's hold. She hugged him, stroking his hair and snarling at the bully like she wanted nothing more than to punch him.

Nico looked around him. Enough people had stopped to watch now. Probably stopped to watch Percy...

Percy stood tall and proud and brave, like a real hero, like how Nico had once seen him before everything changed. And his friend with the muscles formed a fist, snarling like a bull. Nico didn't pay attention to Goat Boy, because he wasn't even worth mentioning.

Buzzcut Boy let out a shocking laugh, loud and unforgiving. Percy clenched his fists. "Just leave him alone, you jerk. Leo hasn't ever done anything to you," he said, completely oblivious to the crowd that was gathering. Completely oblivious to Nico.

"Just look at him. He doesn't have to do anything. He's –"

Percy's friend raised an eyebrow. "Smaller than you, Sloan. You want a proper fight? Fight _me_. Then you won't be laughing."

Percy glanced at him, like, _I've got your back_. But Nico didn't think he'd need it. The guy was _huge_. And apparently, Buzzcut Boy – Sloan – thought so too. Nico saw him step back, assess the crowd, the situation. Then he shrugged, like it was no big deal. Like Percy's friend was a wimp like Leo, the Latino boy who was gaping at the scene in front of him.

"Whatever," he said, shrugging again. "I won't let you forget this, Jackson." He turned back to Leo like he was going to hit him again, even stepped forward to, then he laughed at Leo's wince and pushed his way out of the crowd, stomping down the hallway like an elephant.

There was a silence, and then the loud chatter of school started again. Nico was amazed a teacher hadn't turned up, and his pulse was racing. He glanced back at Percy, who slapped his friend on the back and gave Leo a sympathetic look before finally, finally looking in Nico's direction.

Although the rest of their group had started talking amongst them, and other students had moved to their lockers before first lesson started, Percy was frozen like a statue. He stared at Nico incredulously, his head cocked to one side, his lips twitching.

Nico didn't even feel that way anymore. Not since... not since a while, and yet Percy made him blush and tug at his collar of his button-down coat and make him feel stupidly self-conscious.

Percy looked like he wanted to say something – or a million things – and he even opened his mouth to (and Nico would be lying if he said he didn't feel a little something tug in his stomach).

Then he turned back to his friends without a word.

Leo made a big show of brushing himself off and straightening his green army jacket. "Well," he huffed loudly, "I guess he didn't like that joke, huh?" He grinned at Percy, at Percy's brave friend, at Goat Boy and at the Native American girl like he was trying to convince them he was completely okay.

Nico clenched his fists, and then unclenched them because his nails dug into his sweaty palm and it hurt. He was so mad, and he wanted to hit something. He might've, if the bell hadn't rung then signalling first lesson. It made him jump. Why did public school bells have to be so loud? It wasn't like it was a fire alarm, or anything important or –

"Nico?" Hazel said. She snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Hello?"

"Huh?" Nico said. "Oh. Hi."

"Did you see that?" Hazel stuffed her hands in her denim jacket pockets, shaking her head. "He's so awful. I hate him. He always picks on Leo–" She stopped, looked behind her and seemed to decide against whatever she was going to say.

Frank stood behind Hazel, playing with the zip of his sports jacket. He frowned, and Nico didn't know why Hazel mentioning Leo made Frank annoyed. Or maybe it was the fact she'd spoke about bullying. Maybe it was a touchy subject for Frank, although his size should've been an instant defence mechanism.

As Hazel started walking Nico to his first class, because she _insisted_ and secretly Nico could've used some guidance to the wood shop classroom, Nico looked around him at the miniscule number of students left in the hallway. Percy had gone. So had his friends, and of course the bully Sloan. A tall blond boy wearing immaculate clothes and carrying a bunch of books under his arm walked past, waving once at Hazel and Frank, then disappeared up a flight of stairs. Following close behind, a girl with a long black braid and a hard stare. A pair of twins with messy hair and pointy ears were pick-locking somebody's locker with telltale grins on their faces.

Nico felt uncomfortable. Frank left soon afterwards, shyly giving Hazel's hand a squeeze like he was scared of what Nico would say. Inside, he wanted to laugh. Frank was amusing, if a little awkward and dorky, although Nico didn't really care about that. Hazel flashed him a grateful smile, but he shrugged it off.

"Oh, here we are," Hazel said. The walk had felt like two minutes. "Wood shop. It's pretty standard, and kinda boring if you don't like building stuff."

"Great," Nico said. He'd originally thought wood shop was a myth, not actually a subject but something American films made up for the sake of it. He didn't know he'd have to take something so pointless.

Hazel left him and he walked inside his classroom. Immediately, he was greeted by a bunch of other new freshmen. They were all far too excited for this lesson. Who seriously looked at their timetable and thought, _yay, wood shop!_ Like, who did that?

At a vacant corner at the back of the classroom, he spotted the same boy from earlier on: Leo. On the bench in front of him lay a tool belt like you might find on a mechanic's overalls, and his hand was dug inside it, tongue out in concentration, looking for something.

He pulled his hand out a few seconds later, grinning at a hammer. Then he spotted Nico. Spotted Nico _staring_, and raised his eyebrows as though to say, _What?_

Nico narrowed his eyes, but he was across the classroom from Leo and he couldn't exactly say anything. So he just half-assed glared at him, until Leo shrugged and looked down at his project.

The teacher arrived, and while Nico wasn't particularly looking forward to this subject, he wasn't going to get bad grades. Sitting at the back would be a distraction – especially near Leo, who was hammering a nail loudly into a piece of hardwood – and all the spaces in the middle were taken. So he sat at the front, pulled out his notebook (and on second thought put it away because it was _wood shop_), and waited patiently for the teacher to arrive.

No less than a minute later he felt something _clink_ on the back of his head. Then again, when he didn't turn around. And almost again, but he'd turned around that time and it hit him in his nose. A nail.

He looked at Leo.

"_What_?" he hissed.

"He spits," Leo said back from three workbenches behind in a loud whisper just audible over the sound of chattering freshmen. "Like _spits_. Sitting at the front is, like, guaranteeing a shower every lesson." He shook his head, gestured to the seat beside him. "Come sit here. I don't bite."

Nico glared at him. Was he messing with him? Leo looked like trouble, looked like he wouldn't hesitate pranking Nico simply because he was new.

The classroom door swung open. A tall, muscled man with a glass eye and a slobbering mouth walked in. Nico shot up, and walked quickly to the back bench before any other freshman could claim it. As everybody scrambled to their seats, studying the teacher with a mixture of excitement and hopefulness, Nico settled in beside a grinning Leo.

"You're welcome," he said.

Nico side-eyed him with a frown. "Thanks."

Leo shrugged.

Their teacher glanced around at the kids, his big bloated face splitting into a sly smile just as his gazed lingered for too long on Leo. "Ah, Valdez," he said.

"Hola," Leo answered, saluting. Nico rolled his eyes.

"This is your, what, fourth year here?"

"Um, second," he said. "Aren't you glad to have me back?"

Some other kids in the class snickered. Their teacher just shrugged, leaning against his front desk and spitting out an answer, "Maybe if you attend more than the first lesson, you won't have to retake freshman wood shop for a third time. Now..."

He launched into a lengthy monologue that Nico tried to pay attention to but couldn't actually end up listening to and understanding for more than a few minutes. Next to him, Leo pulled out a crumpled drawing and started writing down different figures and measurements and materials. Curiously, Nico peered over his shoulder to look, but he didn't understand that either.

Eventually their teacher gave them something to work on – but it was only a worksheet, and Leo huffed impatiently, like he wanted nothing more to wield his hammer and build some clocks or something. Whatever people did in wood shop.

As their teacher passed around the sheets, he looked at Nico, then back at Leo. "This is a paired activity, so give your friend a chance to answer some as well, Valdez."

Nico wiped his cheek. "What does that mean?"

"It means that I'm far too superior for this class and finally somebody recognises my brilliance and I shouldn't actually have to be here," Leo said, throwing his hands up and slapping his palms on the table.

"Modest," Nico said. "So are you a sophomore?"

"Yeah," he answered. "I should be in, like, math or something now. At least I get to sit at the back in this class. Nobody else trusts me."

On closer inspection, Nico saw that Leo's hammer was decorated with a swirling fire design. His tool belt, which sat at the edge of the bench, leaked blueprints and drawings and wretches. "I wonder why."

"Aw, I'm not so bad," he said, pencilling in some answers on the sheet, but then drawing something – a dragon? – in the margin so the thought didn't really count. He carried on decorating their sheet, and writing in red ink, which Nico would've thought was forbidden considering all his old schools had strict blue-and-black ink rules.

He sighed. He wasn't at his old school anymore, and he didn't really want to think about it.

Even though he usually didn't participate in conversation, Nico wanted to ask Leo something. Something about the bully from earlier on. Deciding it was too personal, he let it go. But the thought nagged him, and sometime during the middle of the class – when they were on their second worksheet, much to Leo's dismay – Leo finally caught on to the staring and questioning looks from his partner.

"Do I have something on my face?" he asked, scrubbing his cheek with his palm. "Did Piper draw on me again?"

Nico didn't know who Piper was. He shook his head. "No, it's not that–"

Leo lowered his hand, and then dropped the pen he was holding in the other one. This time, his and Nico's sheet was decorated with different pictures. Pictures of heavy looking machinery with intricate details. "Right. You were there earlier on when Rocky Balboa was about to pound in my face."

"Kinda," Nico said.

"I hate him."

"I would imagine."

Leo shook his head. "Good job I had those guys to help me, huh? I would've been turned into mince," he muttered. "You probably already know them."

"No," Nico said.

"Oh." Leo scratched the back of his neck. "Beckendorf was the big dude. Obviously Percy Jackson. Um, I assume you know him, considering how you looked at him–"

"I didn't look at him in any way," Nico said.

"Oh," Leo said, "okay. Well, Beckendorf works at my mom's garage."

Nico was glad Leo didn't bring up Percy again. "Your mom has a garage?"

"Um, no," Leo replied.

Nico narrowed his eyes. Leo wasn't making any sense, but with the way he was looking at the table and tapping his fingers and pushing locks of his hair behind his ears – he was nervous, and Nico wasn't going to say anything else to make him more uncomfortable. Besides, he didn't actually want to start talking more, because then Leo might mistake him for wanting to converse with him and be friends and –

No. Nico didn't want that.

He glanced at Leo, who was biting his lip and drawing on the bench time like the paper wasn't even there. He was still tapping his fingers and kept fiddling with the buttons on his army jacket like a major ADHD child, and Nico had to bite the inside of his lip to stop himself saying something because oh, god, that was distracting.

When the class ended, he was surprised to find Hazel waiting for him. She stood at a group of lockers, hands in the pockets of her denim jacket again. He was equally as surprised to find Leo following him out, smiling at him, and then his mouth opening as though he was about to say something...

Then Leo saw Hazel. Hazel went to step forward but faltered, looking at Leo with wide eyes. Nico looked between them, wondering what on earth was going on. Obviously, something had happened between them, otherwise there wouldn't have been that much awkwardness and tension.

At least Frank isn't here, he thought.

Leo looked at Nico, then at Hazel, then at the linoleum tiles. Cursing, he kicked a nail away with his foot and took off, scratching his head.

Nico frowned. "What?"

Hazel shook her head. Instead of saying anything about it, like explaining why, she cocked her head to one side. "Is he _seriously_ retaking wood shop? I would've thought he'd be good at it."

Nico looked back in the classroom. Leo had abandoned the project he had been working on and left it on the side bench. Their teacher studied it, turning it in his hands, looking fascinated. "Oh, he's good. But he's got the concentration level of a child at Disneyland."

Hazel smiled. "I'm not surprised."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, so what's going on–?"

The same loud, shrilling bell from earlier on rang out and made Nico jump. Hazel jumped, too, and grabbed his hand, only blushing a little. "Come on!"

Hazel and Nico started off toward Nico's next lesson, which he was lucky to share with Hazel. Nico was grateful for his half-sister, despite everything that had gone on with their parents and step-parents and the whole lot. Their family was messed up, but at least they had each other. It wasn't just school that they needed each other to help get them through.

Even though school had thus far put him in a foul mood, and being around that many people – especially teenagers – made him uncomfortable, he had to smile. At least he had Hazel.

**A/N **I know Hades is more *death* than he is *wealth* (nod to Pluto), but my personal headcanon for this AU is that Nico is this snarky little rich kid and I just had to write it like that. I'm sorry. Also, Hazel and Nico are, what, 13 and 14 respectively? Yeah, we're bumping those ages up. Let's say they're both freshmen.

Also, if it's not obvious, this is not a demigod fanfic. All the characters are mortals. Any ~links~ to the demigod verse are entirely intentional, but there are no secret underlying meanings. I swear they're all human. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Annabeth's Dilemmas**

Annabeth hated waiting for people. Especially annoying, green-eyed, black-haired troublemakers who really should've been queuing up for her help.

But nobody in particular or anything.

The bell for lunch had rang ten minutes ago, and yet she was still waiting for Percy Jackson to hurry himself up and get there for their first real lesson. It wasn't like he was in dire need of being tutored. It wasn't like Annabeth was willing to push some very important factors (read: an ancient feud) aside to help him get through being a sophomore.

The clock ticked behind her like a constant reminder that Percy was late, and that she was wasting her time when she could have been spending it tutoring somebody who actually respected her.

When people were starting to leave the cafeteria after eating, she decided enough was enough. She was going to find him, embarrass him, and drag him back to the classroom for an extra-long lesson.

"Hey!" she called as a kid she knew in her grade sauntered out of the cafeteria.

"Huh?" Leo Valdez said. "Oh. Hi, Annabeth."

"Where's Percy?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are–"

Annabeth blinked. Leo seemed to get the picture. He shrugged. "Probably at swim practise?" he offered.

"Swim practise," Annabeth said.

"Um, there's a swim meet in a few weeks," he told her, wringing his hands together. For some reason, she had a feeling she made him nervous. "I guess he needs to practise. You know, if they win there's a competition in a few months. It's like high school Olympics."

"High school Olympics," she said.

"Sure," he said. "Can I go now? I was kinda working on something for wood shop. I want to get it finished before the semester ends, you know, for extra credit and stuff."

Annabeth waved him away. With a wave and a cheeky grin, Leo left. Then she stood, clasping her hands together. It was time to find Percy Jackson – and kick his tardy ass.

...

Despite recent funding issues, the school made sure to keep their swimming pool and gym in pristine condition. Now that she thought about it, Annabeth reckoned it was because Percy Jackson wasn't completely hopeless when it came to swimming.

As she walked through the hallway, hearing the shouts of people in the pool and the splash of water and already smelling chlorine, she peeked inside some of the cabinets to each side of her. They held countless amounts of trophies; most of the gold statuettes, sure enough, had Percy's name engraved on their standing.

She walked through until she reached the double doors leading into the swimming pool, and pushed them open, overwhelmed by the smell of chorine and the noise of people cheering. It seemed a little odd that a legion of girls sat at the side of the pool, cheering every so often. Unless they were there for Percy.

Her cheeks reddened. Furiously, she stomped into the hall so she was standing at the corner of the bleachers. She could single Percy out in the huge pool now. Chuckling, he was splashing his friends and occasionally ducking under and performing silly tricks like handstands or flips while the coach wasn't watching.

Annabeth had to admit he was good. Well, better than good – there was a reason he had all of those trophies (and probably had more sitting in his home). But he being a good swimmer didn't excuse him missing her lesson like an ungrateful dolt.

Percy resurfaced a worrying amount of time after he'd gone under again, and started shaking his hair, unaffected. His friend grimaced, swimming away. But Percy was faster, and they launched into a silly game of swimming pool cops-and-robbers – leaving Annabeth infuriated.

Until Percy noticed her standing there. His eyes widened and he came to a stop in the middle of his lane. On his face flashed a thousand emotions, and Annabeth imagined her's looked about the same – only harsher.

Percy swam quickly to the edge of the pool, shouted something back to his friend and teammates, and then climbed out. He walked over to the other side of the bleachers, oblivious to the girls staring at him (and his chest), and picked up a bright blue towel. Then he walked over to Annabeth.

"Hey," he said casually.

Annabeth wanted to slap him.

He semi-dried his black hair with the towel before draping it over his shoulder and smirking. Annabeth tried not to look at his athletic chest, because she felt it extremely inappropriate – and she really didn't care for him in that way at all – but he didn't make it any easier by not even attempting to put a shirt on. Did he expect her to tutor him while he was partially nude?

"I can't believe you," she said through her teeth, crossing her arms. Percy looked confused.

So nothing was different there then.

"Um, what?" he said. "What did I – oh."

"Yeah," she said. "Oh."

Percy played with some loose threads on the towel, letting out a nervous laugh. Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him. Stupid half-nude boy. "I'm sorry," he said. "I completely forgot. And, to be fair, I do have a swim meet in a few weeks."

"And you need the practise," Annabeth said.

"I – hey!" Percy protested. "I have to keep practising, or I might lose my spot as captain."

Annabeth sighed. "Look, just get dressed, Seaweed Brain. I'll see you in the classroom in ten."

...

Annabeth didn't have to wait long for Percy to be ready, although when he turned up, his hair was still wet and he was out of breath like he'd gone for another quick swim. He swung his backpack down to the front desk and sat down obediently, smiling contently. Something about being in the water liberated him.

Annabeth didn't feel guilty – at least not for long – and pulled out her chair to sit in front of him. "I assume you brought your books," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Percy smirked his irritating, albeit unique, mischievous smirk. Something inside Annabeth flipped and she pushed the feeling down with a forceful anger so strong she almost ripped the pages of Percy's textbook she turned it so hard.

Percy looked at her strangely, like he had yesterday when she'd known his name before ever meeting him. Of course he'd bought that Mr Brunner had told her, because why wouldn't he? In all honesty, Mr Brunner had been tentative – and worried – when asking Annabeth to tutor him.

Annabeth shook her head. She _had_ to stop thinking like that, especially since she was tutoring somebody and had to be professional.

To his credit, Percy had a determined expression as he stared at the page. Unfortunately, Annabeth saw that the words went in – but didn't really stay there. Percy looked more confused than he ever had before, and that was saying something. But still he kept on reading, listening, taking notes.

As Annabeth started explaining something for a third time, she had to wonder how long she would have to tutor him. She just hoped her mother wouldn't find out.

...

When Percy started to glance at the clock more often than not and write even messier, Annabeth allowed them a quick break. She pulled a pack of dried fruit and nuts from her desk drawer and shared them with Percy, even though he wrinkled his nose every time he ate some.

A knock on the door made the two of them look up. Rachel Elizabeth Dare stood in her paint-stained, ripped jeans and vest. In her pockets, a few paintbrushes stuck out prominently.

"Hey," she said. "Do you mind if I borrow Percy for a little bit?"

Annabeth narrowed her eyes. "Actually, yes."

"Right. It's sort of important, though," Rachel said, crossing her freckled arms. "I swear we'll only be a few minutes."

"This is more important," Annabeth said, gesturing to the textbooks and notebook and highlighters on the desk. "Sorry."

Annabeth saw Percy look between the two of them, like he was debating which side to choose. Rachel also looked at Percy expectantly, as though she knew Percy would take her side. Annabeth scowled.

Wisely, Percy didn't look at Annabeth when he said, "I think we can take a few minutes off, right? I mean, we're on a break now."

"No, we're not," Annabeth quipped. "Not anymore."

"It is his lunchtime," Rachel added, shrugging. She examined her nails and picked some dried glue from her skin. "He can choose what he wants to do."

Percy looked so deep in thought Rachel might as well have given him a prophecy.

"Mr Brunner is counting on me," Annabeth said, and came to the realisation that she was reassuring herself as well. Who cared what her mother – mostly absent and strict and not as loving as she would've liked – thought, when Mr Brunner, who was practically a mentor/father-figure to Annabeth, had asked her to do this?

"Whatever." Rachel shrugged. "I'll catch up with you after school."

Annabeth pondered whether or not Percy and Rachel often hung out after school together. Did they like each other? She looked over Rachel critically, and decided that Rachel was definitely cute. She and Percy would make an interesting couple.

"Wait!" Percy said. Then he looked at Annabeth. "I mean, I'll be back in a sec, okay? I swear I'll only be two minutes. And then you can, like, make me work extra hard."

Annabeth watched Percy join Rachel, shutting the door lightly. She scowled, watching them chat easily, like they'd been friends their whole lives. Possibly they had. Rachel didn't look at Percy the same way Annabeth had noticed most other girls in their school looked at him. Not that he'd even notice.

Rachel looked back into the classroom at Annabeth, and Annabeth scowled. She hated not knowing what was going on. Rachel kept on watching her, unfazed, as she said something to Percy. Percy's eyes widened, and he shook his head. Slowly, Rachel pulled her attention away from Annabeth and smiled. She laid a hand on Percy's arm and walked away in the opposite direction, smacking her gum.

Percy walked back into the classroom and sat down. Annabeth glared at him.

"Sorry," he said. "That was sort of important, to be fair."

"I could sense it," Annabeth replied.

Percy flicked a dog-eared textbook corner and shrugged half-heartedly. "It was about a synchronised swimming day to fund the art department. They're lacking seriously, and Rachel needs the money if she's going to compete in this huge competition."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "I've heard about that. Isn't it in California?"

"Yeah," Percy said.

"So why doesn't Rachel's dad fund it?" Annabeth asked.

Percy looked up, surprised. He looked as though he wanted to say something, but he bit it back. Good for him, Annabeth thought.

"She doesn't really like to talk about that," he mumbled.

"What, how rich her dad is? Isn't it a little cruel to rely on you to come up with the money?"

"Not just me. It's not only swimming; it's other stuff in the school too."

"Oh, so she's relying on the whole school to fund her stupid project?"

"Annabeth, please!" Percy pleaded. Annabeth widened her eyes, but she didn't say anything. She didn't care about Percy and Rachel.

She didn't care about Percy.

There was only about half an hour left of lunch, but Annabeth didn't feel like letting Percy go yet. For some reason, she wanted to stay with him, which was weird, because during her freshman year she'd spent the little spare time she had trying to avoid him. Now there she was, tutoring him, actually making conversation – it was a little awkward at times, but on the other hand, it was nice not to be arguing.

After she finishing helping Percy with the last half of his Latin homework, her phone buzzed with a text. She fished it out of her pocket and clicked it open.

_Is it true? You're tutoring Percy Jackson?_

Even if it didn't say who sent it, she had a feeling she would know. Thalia, her best friend and occasional roommate, who didn't actually go to the same school as Annabeth but may as well have. Her father used to be partners with Percy's in the city council, before all the arguments and fights and when everything came crashing down.

Annabeth didn't know if Thalia cared what her father thought – he was just as lousy as Annabeth's mom – but by nature Thalia was a judgemental person. She hated Percy's dad. Why wouldn't she hate Percy?

Annabeth looked up. Percy had his eyebrows knit together in concentration, and he flexed his hand as though he had writing cramp. She studied him, wondering if he could really be all that bad. Mr Brunner liked him, after all. And so did her friend Piper.

"You're staring at me," he said without looking up.

"I'm definitely not," Annabeth said, and she quickly wrote a reply to the text Thalia had sent her and stuffed her phone back in the pockets of her jeans.

Percy smiled. "Okay."

"You're exhausting," she said.

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl," Percy replied.

Annabeth clasped her hands together and looked out of the classroom window. She saw groups of jocks tossing basketballs to each other or running around the perimeter of the yard. Groups of girls sat on the picnic benches gossiping and reapplying their makeup (possibly after Ms. Dodds ordered they take it off).

It was an extraordinarily normal day, although Annabeth felt a chill rise on her neck. Mixing with Percy Jackson had never been on her agenda, and it was a dangerous thing to get involved with, especially after everything that had happened with their parents.

She was going to have to work extra hard to make sure her mother didn't find out.

**A/N **Eh. Not too pleased with the ending but hello Annabeth's POV, I very much love you. :D

(P.S. stop staring at Percy's chest you pervert. Sheesh.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Leo Valdez, Part-Time Mechanic, Part-Time Misfit**

Leo hated it when people didn't laugh at his jokes – and he hated bullies.

Matt Sloan, an ugly, oversized bully with severe acne and a big head, was the newest kid to torment and torture him. At first, Leo had tried his usual tactic – tell a joke, make him laugh. Sloan was then supposed to leave him alone; that's what the rest of them did. Instead, Sloan, for weeks now, had been intent on making his life a misery.

Leo walked down the hallway with Piper and tried to make himself go unnoticeable. It usually worked. At least it worked when girls were involved, and whenever he tried to tell any of his friends exciting stories about anything he was working on in the workshop or a new car or bike he'd fixed in the garage.

It was almost the end of the day. Hardly anybody walked the halls except Piper and Leo, who had skipped their last class because Lit was boring and they had better things to do. If Leo had it his way, he would've skipped wood shop that morning, too, because their teacher was incompetent and the class would've better valued if _Leo_ had taught it, but he'd caught Leo trying to skip and practically dragged him by his collar to the workshop.

Leo couldn't afford to have a bad track record, they said, not unless he wanted his social worker to find out.

Nico di Angelo was already sitting down when Leo came in. That kid seriously freaked Leo out, and made his skin crawl just by looking at him. His eyes were abnormally deep – like a giant black abyss or the entrance to hell or something.

Still, Leo wanted him to open up and relax. He hated the feeling of not being able to fix anything, and Nico di Angelo was included in his mental list of broken machines. He didn't know his back story – or anything about him really – but he knew that he had to do something; he knew that he had to take action.

About halfway into the class, Nico slipped back into his leather aviator jacket because he was cold, while Leo was busy rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt because it was boiling in that room. Leo watched him, wondering if he was joking. Apparently he wasn't.

And even though they were polar opposites, Leo still spoke to him. Still made him feel included – or tried to. Nico was absolutely tiring, the way he sat and stared blankly, or gave short answers to everything Leo said. He was additionally tiring pretending he didn't know Percy Jackson, but as soon as Leo mentioned him, Nico gave him the meanest glare he'd ever seen.

He'd stopped mentioning Percy.

The creaky door opened with a powerful swing and a girl of around Leo's age walked in. She looked just like the rest of the girls in his grade who were intent on ignoring him, gossiping about him, or teasing him. Of course that meant she was beautiful – and wildly out of Leo's league.

She flipped her cinnamon-coloured hair behind her shoulder and walked over to the teacher's desk. In an odd way, she looked like a Greek goddess. Leo had been learning about them in Latin, and with her white sundress, gold sandals and long, flowing hair – oh, yeah, she _definitely_ looked like one.

Leo hadn't meant to stare, because if she saw him she'd probably start cackling and pointing and saying cruel things like Drew Tanaka would, but he couldn't help it. Nico watched her too, although Leo couldn't gather anything from his expression. He wondered what he was thinking.

A few other hormonal freshmen boys gaped at her and looked disappointed when she left – not before glancing around the classroom. She glanced at Leo like he wasn't worth a nickel or a dime.

Anyway, Leo didn't like to dwell on beautiful ladies who didn't like him back. Thalia, Annabeth Chase's friend, was the most recent. Yeah, that hadn't turned out well.

Piper nudged his hip. "What're you thinking?"

"Nothing," Leo said quickly. "Hey, where are we actually going?"

Piper shrugged. "Wherever you – oh my god. Run!"

They had obviously taken the wrong turn, because Leo had never remembered the head's office being on their usual route. Their headmaster stood outside his office, chatting amicably to one of the parent/teacher board members. Piper grabbed his hand, and they spun on their heels and sprinted in the opposite direction before their head could see them.

Probably he already had, though, and their giggling wasn't doing anything to help their predicament.

"Quick, up there!" Piper said, pointing to the nearest staircase. Leo skidded on the flooring, knocking into her and sending her flying into a set of lockers. Through laughter he apologised, but Piper didn't care; she pulled him towards the stairs and they ran up them, grinning like maniacs.

Leo glanced behind him, wondering if their head was following him. He blindly ran up the stairs and then out onto the hallway where he ran into something heavy.

The force sent him flying onto his back. Sitting up, he cursed – and locked eyes with the freakiest person he'd ever seen in his entire life.

A tall, light-haired boy, who was so pale he made Nico di Angelo look like a Californian surfer, stood before him, a look on his face that was possibly scarier than Matt Sloan's – but for different reasons. He didn't look like an atypical bully. He looked like a sick dictator.

Piper helped Leo up, and then looked over the boy with a wary expression. "Sorry. My friend has a, er, lack of coordination. We'll just be going."

Leo glanced at her apprehensively, but he was grateful Piper could get them out of the situation. He did _not_ want to mess with that boy.

"Not so fast," he said, holding up a pale palm, his eyes glistening with something unrecognisable. Dang, he even _sounded_ like a dictator. He looked between the two of them as though their heads were on chopping blocks and he was judging which knife was better suited to behead them. Yikes. "Do either of you have hall passes?"

Leo blinked. He looked at Piper, then back at the boy. Was he for real? _Hall passes?_

Piper looked like she was trying hard not to laugh. Leo felt exactly the same. "Um, no? Sorry?"

The boy pulled something off of his belt. A teddy bear? Connected to the end of it was a little black notepad and a silver pen. He whipped the lid off the pen and opened the notebook, beginning to write something down.

Leo shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He couldn't help himself. "Is that, um, a teddy bear?"

Slowly, the boy looked up. His eyes lit up murderously. "It's a _keychain_."

"A teddy bear keychain," Leo said.

"_A keychain_!"

Leo raised his palms. "Alright."

The boy glared at him a little longer but didn't say anything else. Instead, he carried on writing on his little notepad. He only said anything when he needed to take their names, and then he shut up again. Leo rocked back and forth on his heels impatiently; all the while, Piper pulled funny faces at him behind her hands, which he returned with even uglier expressions. Piper started possibly by mimicking the boy, but eventually, they ended up looking like some of the Greek monsters from their Latin class.

The boy ripped two pieces of paper from his notepad and handed them to Piper and Leo. Leo scanned over the page, and then blinked incredulously. "_Detention_? Aw, man. I can't. I've got to be in the garage tomorrow after school."

"Too bad," the boy said, shrugging. Then he turned on his heel, with a last glare, and skirted around the lockers. Probably to ruin somebody else's day.

Leo huffed and crossed his arms. "Who even was that?"

Piper shook her head and stuffed the detention slip into the pocket of her faded jeans. "I have no idea. But I never want to cross him again."

...

Leo arrived at the garage later than he would've liked. He and Piper spent most of the rest of last period causing havoc outside their old middle school, which finished a little earlier than the high school. Then somehow, after finding themselves in the park outside their high school, they found themselves lodged under the slide, spying on the same kid from earlier on – the evil dictator who gave them detention.

"His name is Octavian?" Leo didn't even stifle a laugh, so Piper elbowed him in his ribs. "Octavian. That's spectacular."

"Shut up, Leo," Piper said.

For anybody else, they would've been uncomfortably close, all angles and jutted elbows and knees and the smell of each other close (in Leo's case, he probably smelled a bit too much like oil and grease, but Piper had never cared about that). Considering how close of a relationship they had, though, they didn't care about all that.

Octavian was giving hell to a bunch of kids from their school, nagging them about things that should've been kept, as it was, in _school_. Leo rolled his eyes. He guessed that Octavian was on the school council, although he seemed so different from the other kids he knew from there. Especially Annabeth Chase, who wouldn't even care if you wore your tie messed up like Percy Jackson did or whether or not you wore your blazer like he didn't – especially at the end of the school day. This Octavian kid? He was a nightmare. _Leo's_ nightmare.

Piper nudged him. "What a freak. Let's get out of here."

Leo couldn't think of a better idea. He and Piper crawled out of their little prison, waved at a few of the children and parents who gave them the strangest looks – actually, considering the way Leo and Piper wore their uniform, they probably thought they were up to more than spying – and then set off towards the garage.

Piper hooked her arm through his and they settled into their usual rhythm; Leo pulled out a bag of flavoured candy laces from his quasi-tool belt and shared them with Piper, giving her the chewed leftovers of flavours he didn't like. Piper would give him a dead arm (which he wouldn't admit to) and steal five from the bag, whipping him with them or using them as a skipping rope.

A few kids from their grade passed by and snickered at them. Leo recognised Drew Tanaka amongst them, the cruellest girl in the world – who also happened to be Piper's half-sister. Not that Piper considered her that. The two girls hated each other, and Drew hated Leo just as much. (She'd managed to come to that conclusion when she'd actually looked at him for more than a passing glance. It didn't happen often. At least some kind of strong feeling came out of it.)

"Dumpster Girl," Drew whispered to Piper as she passed. She glanced at Leo, but either she hadn't thought of a nickname for him yet or she didn't think he was worth it. Either way, she left without saying a word to him.

Piper didn't say anything back. Leo admired that, and he didn't feel like he had to intervene. Partly because Piper would kick his butt and tell him off for trying to fight her battles, but party because he already knew he didn't need to. Piper was kickass.

They reached the garage just as Piper stuffed her hand into the paper bag of laces and pulled out about seven, shoving them all in her mouth. Leo pretended to be disgusted, mimicking how Drew acted the last time she'd been partnered with Leo and Piper in biology; she had had to work with them, and Leo and Piper had spent the whole lesson flinging frog guts at each other. They'd gotten detention, but the looks that Drew gave them – priceless. He didn't care about detention, which he was used to, if he got to freak out Drew Tanaka that much to get there.

Leo walked into the garage with Piper in tow, and nobody batted an eyelash. The others there were used to it. Piper pulled herself up onto the countertop and plugged in one of her headphones while Leo got to work on one of the cars. He was still only an intern, but his mom had owned the garage once upon a time (long story) and therefore the others felt like he deserved to have some kind of input. Plus, their usual customers trusted him and if he was honest, he was good at what he did.

Leo didn't know how long he'd been working on the car, but he was almost finished with the repair when he caught Piper shiver. He raised an eyebrow, and she pointed towards the exit. He turned his head to get a better look.

Nico di Angelo sat on the wall opposite, staring at the floor and kicking the wall with the heels of his feet. Leo shuddered. He stood, wiping his hands on an old rag, and said, "That's Nico, a new freshman. He's in my wood shop."

"You mean you're in his wood shop," Piper said, but then: "He's creeping me out. What's he doing?"

"I don't know!" Leo said. "Maybe he's here to check our ties and planners."

"Shut up, Leo," Piper said. She poked him with her sneakered foot. "Go and talk to him."

"What? Why me? You're the one who noticed him."

"You're in his wood shop," Piper said, "so you have to."

They bickered like that for two or three minutes, when Leo finally sighed, "Fine," and marched out onto the gravel, ignoring Nyssa and Beckendorf's confused glances.

Nico didn't notice him right away. He looked deep in daydream, and Leo almost felt bad for interrupting him – until he sharply looked up. Leo expected him to glare at him, and he didn't disappoint.

"Hey," Leo said.

Nico's face scrunched into a confused sort of grimace. Interesting. Nico would probably always be making up new facial expressions if in a situation wherein Leo was involved. "What are you doing here?"

"Funny," Leo said, smiling, "I was about to ask you the same thing."

"Well I asked you first," Nico argued – then, seemingly realising he still had them in, he took out his headphones and bunched them in one little pale fist.

"I was going to ask you first, though," Leo said, shrugging. "So, go."

"Go where?"

"I mean go as in answer."

"Then why didn't you just say answer?"

Leo narrowed his eyes. Why was Nico being so difficult? It wasn't like bickering with Piper, who he felt like he could joke with. Nico just annoyed him – and it should have been _Leo_ doing the annoying. "Why can't you just answer?" he quipped.

Nico hesitated. "I wasn't here for any reason. I just didn't want to sit in the fields."

The fields – what seniors called the hills beyond the park. When you were younger, they used to look so faraway and dangerous – like anything could be there waiting for you. A monster, a murderer, or a Nico di Angelo. Now people – usually sophomores, like Percy and Leo and Piper – hung out there after school. Some people smoked cigarettes supplied by the Stoll brothers, who stole them from stores and then sold them to seniors (which is what made them so popular); other people made out in the further hills, possibly even doing more than that. The vast expanse of the fields was so huge and wide and magical that anything you did was so indiscernible nobody knew anything that went on further than the first few hills.

"Oh," Leo said, glancing back at the garage. Piper was staring at them, and he shrugged helplessly. "Well, remember me telling you about my mom's garage? Welcome."

Nico widened his eyes. "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to–"

"Oh, it's cool," Leo said, realising that it sounded like he was telling Nico to take a hike. Nico might have been a little sketchy, but Leo wasn't harsh. At least not that harsh. "You can stay."

Nico seemed to catch sight of Piper in the background of Leo, and his face fell from a slight frown to a complete frown partnered with a glare. A state usually reserved for a certain Valdez, Leo bet. He hopped off the wall and shrugged heavily. "Whatever. I had to be heading home anyway."

"You don't have to–"

"I – I have to go." Nico scowled, and then he plugged back in his headphones and shot off in the opposite direction to the fields. Leo watched him go, scratching his neck, feeling slightly guilty.

He turned and went back to Piper, who stared at him with a curious expression. "What did he say? You didn't need to send him packing, Leo, god!"

"I didn't." Leo frowned. "I mean, I didn't _mean_ to."

"Go and talk to him again! Find him!"

"He's not my responsibility, Pipes," Leo said.

Piper shrugged and rest her feet on the top of the car Leo had been working on. Leo pushed them off, and then hoisted himself up so he was sitting next to her on the countertop. "Well, you will be soon," she said. "Mitchell mentioned that he's working with a girl called Lacy for a group project in wood shop. You sit by Nico, right?"

Leo nodded. He'd told Piper everything about wood shop, and how he had a feeling something had gone on between Percy and Nico. Piper dismissed it, but Leo couldn't get it out of his head. It was driving him – and his ADHD – crazy.

"So aren't you guys partners by association?"

Leo hadn't thought of that. He'd been so used to doing every single group project ever alone – except lessons he had with Piper – so he'd already started planning what he was going to do. None of it included Nico. He probably wouldn't even understand it. Though Nico hadn't actually asked Leo to work with him – maybe he was going alone, too.

Piper shrugged. "Oh well. You gonna finish on that car so we can go home or what?"

Leo jumped off the countertop after a moment's thinking and bowed, dipping his rag, pretending it was a floppy hat. "Right away, miss."

**A/N **Wow its fun to imagine Leo and Piper running around school channelling their inner Breakfast Club. Piper would so be the criminal, the little rebel (hello charmspeak).

Mm I have no idea why every single chapter started with "[...] hated". That wasn't that plan but WHATEVER it's Percy's chapter next. Back to the start. :D

(Also the ending is a little ~meh~ but I wanted to leave it open-ended and, like I said, Percy's POV is next so the story will *officially* start without all the introductions and stuff.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Annabeth Chase Is My Friend**

Percy never wanted to be late to another one of Annabeth's lessons again.

It wasn't actually technically his fault (although he'd never say that to Annabeth). He was so excited for the pending swim meet that he forgot he even _had_ a lesson. When Annabeth had came and got him, he'd been so embarrassed he made up a lame excuse and left his friends to train alone.

Now they wouldn't stop harassing him.

Will Solace slammed his locker shut, a silly grin slapped on his face. Percy personally wanted to slap it _off_ him. "So Annabeth, huh?"

Percy rolled his eyes, although he felt his cheeks go hot. "Nothing's going on, Will. She's just helping me with some of my classes, that's all."

He hadn't actually planned to tell his friends about the tutoring; he'd had a sinking feeling they'd all react like this. Will wasn't the only one. Jake and Beckendorf and Rachel were all the same. Well, maybe not so much Rachel, but he'd noticed her smirking whenever Grover mentioned it – which, as it happened, was a lot.

At that moment, Annabeth strode around the corner with Silena Beauregard at her shoulder, taking intimately about something. When they glanced at Percy and his group, they started smiling, maybe even giggling.

Jake narrowed his eyes. "Who are those two gossiping about?"

Will glanced pointedly at Percy and Beckendorf.

Beckendorf shrugged it off, but Percy could tell his mind was spinning just as fast as one of his crazy mechanical devices. He'd had a crush on Silena since middle school; high school hadn't changed a thing – most importantly, Beckendorf's shyness. He wouldn't be able to talk to Silena for a few minutes without blushing or saying something wrong and screwing it all up.

As for Percy, he didn't think about Annabeth like that. She was practically his teacher – and his friends singing _Hot For Teacher_ whenever Annabeth even came close to him wasn't helping matters.

Silena and Annabeth walked past, still grinning. Silena raised a hand to Beckendorf and said, "Hey, Charlie." He looked like he might pass out.

Percy nodded at Annabeth. They'd had a sort of mutual agreement about the tutoring thing; they would be civil to each other when it was needed, like now in the hallways (with his friends acting like idiots), and Percy would attend every lesson. At least she'd given him some leeway when it came to swimming, and some days she got so fed up with him that she let him go early.

As soon as they left, Jake turned to him and shook his head. "Dude."

Percy shrugged casually, like, _What?_

"You don't just nod at the girl you like," he said, like he'd had any experience in that department. Even diffident Beckendorf looked at him with an addled expression.

"I don't like her," Percy said. "She's just my..." Percy didn't know what Annabeth was to him except his tutor. His friend?

Will scoffed. "So you asked her to be your date to the swim meet because you don't like her? Right."

"Not a date," Percy said, thinking back to how he'd asked Annabeth. It wasn't exactly smooth. "Just as... friends. And I'll be _swimming_. There'll be no room to, like, date, you know?"

His friends shook their heads, but they were laughing with him. Anyway, it wasn't like it _was_ a date. He'd asked Rachel, too, and she didn't like him and he didn't like her – so not a date. And Piper, who was guaranteed to come anyway but still – not a date.

Annabeth was _not_ his date. Him and Annabeth dating was about as likely as Beckendorf overcoming his shyness and asking Silena out. It wasn't ever going to happen.

He shrugged his backpack on his shoulders and shook his head. "Either way, she doesn't like me."

"Yeah. That's why she said yes to your date, _Seaweed Brain_." Will grinned. "Now, come on, we're gonna be late for chem!"

...

Percy ran his hands along the tiled underneath of the swimming pool, pretending it was the coral of the sea bottom instead of his school's pool. He grinned at the idea of little fishes swimming around him like in his aquarium at home. If he were really under the sea, maybe even some whale sharks.

Then he realised he was grinning underwater and almost coughed up his lungs.

"God, I thought you were good at that."

"Just pass me my towel and shut up."

Rachel grinned at him as he climbed out of the pool, still coughing and wheezing. Oh, he was good at holding his breath – just perhaps not actually breathing. He took his favorite blue towel from Rachel and ran it through his hair like he always did. Rachel watched him, blowing bubbles occasionally with her gum. He almost wanted to shake the rest of his hair like a wet dog so Rachel got droplets on her, but he had no doubt she would shove him straight into the pool if he did.

Rachel glanced around the hall. "Do you think this place is big enough for all the people to come? I mean, some won't want to watch you swimming – they'll be in the science block or art or something – but others possibly would. What do you think?"

"I think everybody will want to watch me swim," Percy said. "So I think we should get a bleacher extension or something."

"Right," Rachel said. "But realistically? We'll probably need to lend the bleachers out to the art department."

Percy knit his eyebrows together and said, "Oh. Okay."

"I was _kidding_, idiot," Rachel said, but it was gentle. She smiled. "I'll be here. You know that."

"Oh," Percy said. "Yeah. Okay."

Rachel laughed. As Percy wiped off his chest and pulled on his white school shirt and draped his tie around his neck the two of them sat down at the bleachers to watch the rest of Percy's team practise or mess around. Even if there was some time left in lunch, Percy liked the relaxing atmosphere in the swimming hall. And Rachel didn't mind sitting with him.

"So," she said, poking a thumb through one of the holes in her jeans. "I heard something today from Grover and I didn't know whether or not it was true."

"What about?"

Rachel looked at him. "Are you taking Annabeth out on a date?"

"What? No!" Percy said. He hoped he wasn't blushing. "I mean, I asked her to come to the swim meet but that's obviously not a date."

"Obviously," Rachel said.

"It's a whole school event," he said. "She probably was already coming. She's on school council."

It took Rachel a few minutes to say, "Yeah, I know." She ripped another hole in her jeans, and she didn't appear to care that she had threads coming off elsewhere. "Besides, you'll need all the people you can get. You don't want empty bleachers."

They shared a smile.

Eventually, they had to start to move. The other members of Percy's team were starting to pack up their bags, making small talk with each other about the other teams. Percy wasn't worried. It was their school's event to raise money for their school – even if they didn't win the swimming (which was highly doubted), they did win everything else.

Some of them waved at Percy and Rachel, smiling like they shared an inside joke that Percy wasn't a part of. He hated it when people acted like that with him – and everybody did it. Mr Brunner, Annabeth, Grover, Rachel. Even Silena Beauregard, who sat by him in Latin and refused to tell him anything Annabeth said about him.

Rachel slapped her knees and stood up. "We'd better get going. Come on."

The hall was crowded with students. Percy and Rachel wandered through them, passing by some kids getting told off for their uniform and Leo and Piper getting reprimanded for throwing water balloons. Ms. Dodds stood a few feet away, soaking wet, with a sour expression on her face. Percy grinned.

"Hey," Rachel said softly. She patted his arm. "Maybe we should go the other way."

"What, why?"

Percy followed Rachel's cautious gaze, an ominous feeling settling over him – of vertigo and uneasiness. Nico di Angelo stared right at him, open-mouthed. As soon as Percy looked at him, his face fell and twisted into a sneer – but there was something else. Something Percy couldn't recognise.

Nico was no longer the little geeky kid he'd met when he was thirteen. Nico had changed. Scratch that – _everything _had changed.

Percy didn't know where to look. Like the other day when he'd saw Nico for the first time in a few years, he froze up. He didn't know what to say or do.

Thankfully, he had Rachel. She took his wrist and led him away, leaving Nico and his other friends behind. They walked quickly, but Rachel lost her balance as they spun around a corner and almost bumped into somebody. Annabeth.

Annabeth looked like she was about to say something, but noticed Percy and stopped. She narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry," Rachel said. "Come on, Perce."

"Wait!" Annabeth said. Percy internally groaned – had he missed another lesson? Instead, she said, "Are you okay? You look... shaken."

"He's fine," Rachel said. "Come on, Perce."

"I wasn't asking you," Annabeth said fiercely, crossing her arms. Percy looked between the two of them, wondering why they both appeared to implicitly hate each other – and he didn't even know they _knew_ each other until a week or so ago.

Rachel sighed loudly, impatiently. "Well?"

"Um, I'm doing okay," he said to Annabeth. He felt kind of sorry for Rachel, because Annabeth was not a person you wanted to hate you (he would know), but Rachel didn't appear to like Annabeth very much either. At least she was subtle about it.

Annabeth sized Rachel up for a minute. Then, eventually but slowly, she turned to Percy and actually smiled at him. "So I'll see you next week for the swim meet right? I'm looking forward to it."

Percy felt something inside him – like something was fluttering in his stomach. He nodded, for a second forgetting about everything else. "Yeah. Me too."

Rachel smiled. "See you there, Annabeth."

Annabeth's eyebrows pulled together. She slammed her locker shut, clutching her books closer to her chest. "Sorry?"

"I said I'll see you there," Rachel said. "Maybe we can sit together."

Percy wished he'd taken the Nico di Angelo route. He watched Rachel and Annabeth closely, inspecting which would be the first bomb to explode. He had a horrible feeling it might be Annabeth.

"Um, guys," he said.

Thankfully, the bell for the next lesson rung out. Percy winced at the loudness, but he was glad that he no longer had to work on which bomb to defuse. Whoever's side he took, the other would hold a grudge against him. And he didn't need any more people holding grudges against him.

Instead of, like, hitting each other, Annabeth and Rachel smiled at one another – granted, they were steely and guarded, but still a smile.

Percy really didn't understand girls.

"Yeah," Annabeth said as Rachel took his wrist again, "maybe we can."

...

Percy felt Annabeth scrutinising him over the sheer mass of textbooks stacked in front of them on the desk. As usual, they were sat in the classroom Annabeth used at lunchtime for tutoring, which belonged to Ms. Dodds. Percy really loathed that woman. He didn't know how Annabeth felt, but he knew that she was nuts if she liked her. Ms. Dodds was sadistic.

"Percy, are you sure you're okay?" Annabeth said, flicking her pencil on a dog-eared, stained textbook.

Percy nodded. "Yeah," he said, "I'm okay. It's just..."

He didn't know what exactly was bothering him. How shady Grover and Piper were still acting about Annabeth? He knew they weren't telling him something. He also knew Annabeth wasn't telling him something, but he didn't want to ask her in case she beat him with one of the huge architect books she lugged around.

He knew that a part of him felt shaky and sick because of Nico di Angelo, but he didn't want to explain the whole story to her – and if he was honest, he didn't want Annabeth to judge him.

He bit his thumbnail thoughtfully. "I guess... I guess I'm just hungry."

"You're _always_ hungry," Annabeth said, but she pulled out a bag of sweets from her school bag, which had little red owls on it. She placed the sweets next to his hand and said, "We can have a break."

"Jeez, Annabeth," Percy said. "Only fifteen algebra problems and an essay later."

Annabeth threw her pencil at him.

Percy opened the bag of sweets, pulled out a few and stuffed them into his mouth before he'd even looked at them. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but she took a couple too.

Percy stopped rocking on his chair and grinned suddenly. "Blue candy."

"What?" Annabeth said, chewing slowly.

"Oh, nothing," he said. But then: "It's just an old tradition my mom and me used to have. It's kind of lame, but my ex-stepfather didn't believe in blue food, so my mom went out of her way to make and buy blue food, you know? Like, she'd make me blue birthday cakes and buy me blue candy and make blue cookies."

"All junk food," Annabeth said. "You're terrible."

She smiled at him, though. Percy was glad she hadn't laughed. To be honest, Percy's mom sometimes still made him blue food – it was his comfort. And she was an excellent baker, so all his birthdays were catered for by her. It was one of the little things that he enjoyed, and that still meant a lot to him. Even if his ex-stepfather was long gone – hence the _ex_.

Annabeth threw one of the blue pieces of candy at him and he caught it in his mouth. "Right. Come on."

"No fair," Percy said. "We've barely had any rest."

"Do you want to fail?"

Percy shrugged.

"You are hopeless!" Annabeth complained. But she didn't start anything else. She pulled out her planner from her bag and began to jot some things down. Percy noted how neat and organised she kept her's – and how, in contrast, his was completely disorganised and full with little slips of notes from Grover when they were too bored to do the test in their class. Stickers of fish that his friends had stuck in. Detention slips. Things like that.

"Chase, Jackson," a cold voice greeted them.

Percy almost fell off his tilted chair. Ms. Dodds stood at the door, her wrinkly face twisted into a snarl like she was some kind of wild, undiscovered beast. Percy shivered.

Annabeth closed her planner and balanced her pen between two fingers, tapping the desk. "Afternoon, Ms. Dodds."

A croaky humming sound escaped Ms. Dodds throat, and Percy wanted to jump out of the window in fear she would grow talons and rip him to pieces.

Annabeth shot Percy a look and wiped her mouth. Percy cocked his head to one side. Annabeth looked like she might groan, but couldn't because Ms. Dodds was hovering over the front desk, right by where Annabeth was sitting.

Ms. Dodds flicked through some papers, pretending to care about them. Still making the humming noise, she picked up a box of tissues and threw them at Percy's chest in one swift move.

Percy was confused.

"Wipe your mouth," Annabeth hissed lowly.

"Oh!"

Percy whipped out a tissue and wiped the blue drool from the sides of his mouth, slightly embarrassed, as Ms. Dodds asked something of Annabeth. Percy didn't quite hear it, but he heard Annabeth's reply:

"What, you mean permanently?"

"I've already informed Mr Brunner," Ms. Dodds was saying, "and you're just going to have to find a new room."

As the exchange finished and Ms. Dodds finally snaked out of the room, shooting Percy a look that was like, _I'm not done with you yet_, Annabeth moaned.

"What's up?" Percy said.

"Ms. Dodds wants her room back at lunchtimes," she told him.

"Which means?"

Annabeth gave him a sharp look. "Which means we can't be here anymore."

"Oh," Percy said. "That's a shame."

Annabeth threw her planner into her bag. "Yeah," she said. "I get that you don't like me tutoring you, but it's something that seriously has to be done, okay?"

Percy thought that was a little harsh. He didn't even mind Annabeth tutoring him, which was what she assumed against. In fact, he'd warmed up to coming here. It was quite nice (when Ms. Dodds didn't pop in for a chat).

"So," Annabeth continued, "we need to find a new classroom."

"Okay," Percy said.

"You don't understand."

"Um, right," Percy said. "I don't. What's the deal?"

"The deal is that there are no other available classrooms," Annabeth said, taking back the only neat textbook from the pile on Percy's desk, complete with laminated covers and colour-coded chapters. Of course it was her's. "That's why I come here. But now I need another place to go, and there are none."

"So what are we going to do?"

Annabeth bit her lip like she was thinking about it. Then she said, "Your house."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you can't come to mine," she said, and her eyes were narrowed, her voice distant, like him coming to her house was a completely absurd thing to think about. "You only live with your mom, right?"

"Yeah," Percy said. "Well, her new boyfriend is coming and going. He's cool."

"Great," Annabeth said distantly.

Percy hoped Annabeth didn't want to continue this lesson after school today. His room was a mess: his swimwear (thankfully not Speedos) were flung on the floor along with the rest of his laundry; his bed wasn't made; empty bags of potato chips littered his desk; and he was pretty sure he still had out a Finding Nemo plushie that Piper bought him as a joke but what he still kept out on his bed.

"So, when?" Percy asked once they were both outside of the classroom. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, hoping she didn't say tonight.

Annabeth pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and scribbled something on it. Her cell phone number. She passed it to Percy and said, "Call me. We'll sort out details."

"Uh, okay," Percy said, stuffing it into his pocket, hoping he didn't lose it.

Annabeth smiled at him. Percy found it hard to believe, but he was starting to think maybe Annabeth didn't hate him as much as it had first appeared. He knew that she was keeping a secret from him – but maybe that had nothing to do with him. Maybe sometimes she acted wary around him because of something going on with her that didn't concern him.

Whatever it was, Percy tried not to busy himself with it. Annabeth was starting to act almost friendly to him; he didn't want to ruin it by questioning her intentions or whatever it was that had made her dislike him in the first place.

"So, see you," Percy said, raising his hand as a wave.

Annabeth's expression softened. "See you, Seaweed Brain."

With that, she turned and started walking down the hallway. When she reached the end, she turned, almost like she knew Percy was still looking at her. She smiled softly, and she might've laughed a little bit.

Percy smiled, shook his head, and turned to go in the other direction.

**A/N** And we're back full circle – like, literally, because I'm pretty sure this is how the first chapter ended (or along those lines). :D

(Btw the chapter title is reference to the episode 'Kim Kelly Is My Friend' of Freaks & Geeks. What a show, man.)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Rich vs. Poor**

Nico wasn't planning on going to the school's fundraising day for the art department – and he especially wasn't planning on going to the stupid swim meet.

All around school posters were plastered advertising the disgusting orange swim team shirts that were being sold in the school store. Nico didn't think anybody would wear them, but as he walked into the hall at the start of the day, he saw the two thieving twins in the grade above him wearing them, waving little flags around with their school's orange and purple colours.

Nico wanted to throw up.

It was bad enough that he kept seeing Percy around school, but now he had to deal with the rest of the school worshipping him like he was a Greek or Roman god. It wasn't like they were being subtle about it either, but Percy didn't seem to notice.

Nico slammed his locker shut so hard it shook; some people around him gave him discomforted looks. The idiot boy didn't notice _anything_. It didn't matter how obvious you were or how much you hinted at things, he just lived an easy breezy life with no problems or issues. He didn't notice the little things, or even the big things. You'd need a neon sign and rented out football stadium for him to get the picture.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning."

Frowning, Nico turned around. Leo was leaning against the lockers, his arms crossed. He wagged his eyebrows. "What's gotten you all riled up?"

"Please leave me alone," Nico said.

Of course, because he was Leo Valdez and it was his job to annoy him, he didn't. He followed him down the hallway. It didn't matter that they had their first period together – wood shop – he didn't want Leo following him. He wanted to be alone.

"Are you – like, are you actually..." Leo scratched his head. "Ah, jeez. I'm not good with this stuff – um, feelings and all that."

Nico glared at him. Slyly, he wondered if Leo was used to his glares. Probably. "I'm not talking to you about feelings."

"You don't have to," Leo said as they neared the workshop. "But I'm always here."

A warm feeling infiltrated Nico for the first time since Percy Jackson had promised to take care of his sister. Then the feeling disappeared, and the bitterness returned. Bitterness. Hatred. Self-loathing. All things Leo Valdez knew nothing about.

They walked into the workshop together in silence and took their places. For the first time (at least for Leo), both boys were early; they had the place to themselves. But it wasn't awkward – at least, it wasn't as awkward as it would've been a few weeks beforehand. The silence wasn't unsettling. And Leo wasn't being a pain, which was a pleasantly surprising change.

Leo started tinkering with a little robot thing he had been making. Nico really didn't understand Leo's obsession with always having to have busy hands, building or fiddling or drawing, but he admired the look of intense concentration and passion that crossed Leo's face whenever he did any of those things.

"Nico," Leo said.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

Nico rolled his eyes, but he hoped he wasn't blushing. "I'm not," he lied.

"Yeah," Leo said, setting down the robot which walked a few impressive feet, "not anymore. But you were."

"I was not," Nico protested.

"Oh, you were," Leo said, smirking wickedly. In a swift motion, he snatched the robot and wedged it in a pocket of his tool belt. "I don't blame you though."

"You're a moron," Nico said.

"I get that a lot."

Nico grumbled, "I'm not surprised," just as freshmen started loading into the classroom. They looked at Nico and Leo and started snickering for an unknown reason. Nico wondered what their problem was. For the past few weeks, they'd avoided him and pointed at him – then pretended they hadn't – as though he were a different species. Not that he cared what a bunch of fourteen/fifteen year olds cared about him.

Leo tapped his fingers on the desk, agitating him. Even as the teacher walked in and reminded them of the group project assignment, Leo kept tapping. Eventually he started humming too, and swiped bits of his curly black hair behind his ear every few seconds.

Nico wanted to snap at him and tell him to quieten. But he didn't want the attention on him, and he didn't want to have a bad reputation – much unlike the formerly mentioned boy, who everybody knew as a troublemaking runt.

Their teacher dismissed them to start talking about their projects. Everybody in the class had a partner except him and Leo. By default, he assumed this meant Leo would want to work with him. Contrary, Leo seemed to be working alone – at least, he'd planned everything.

"Leo," he said.

"Uh-huh?"

"Are we partners?" he asked. He picked at the hem of his aviator jacket, inexplicably anxious. He didn't really want to work with Leo as much as he wanted to sit by him or talk to him – but he supposed he'd have to, wouldn't he?

Leo looked up. "If you want to be?"

Nico shrugged. "Sure."

"Alright," the Latino replied, pushing some of his curls behind his ear and raising his shoulders. He pushed forward a sheet of detailed plans complete with his usual doodles and a bunch of equations and formulas – of which Nico didn't understand, but he didn't want to ask Leo to explain. He'd probably laugh at him for not knowing.

He pulled out his notebook and started copying down Leo's work, hoping that he'd start to understand it better if he did. He got some things: it was going to be a ship, like the assignment said, with... a dragon's head? It rocked back and forth, so Nico assumed it'd need some sort of standing.

"Leo," he said eventually.

"Yeah?"

"Why are you staring at me?"

Leo glared at him. "You're such a jerk."

...

Nico liked going to the library at lunchtimes. It was a nice way to avoid all the people elsewhere; the courtyards were disgustingly full to the brim with loud teenagers, and he didn't fit in with any of them. He couldn't even pretend to. So he sat alone. Sometimes he read books on ancient myths (because they were closest to where he liked sitting at the back), or worked on homework.

Whatever he did, he did it in silence.

Until that day, when Leo decided to invade his privacy and disrupt his flow.

He saw the scrawny boy come in a few minutes after he sat down. Immediately, the library assistant protested. But Leo passed her something, a little note, and she skim read it with a frown on her face that said she didn't trust Leo in there.

Nico didn't either. And until the boy looked around and spotted him, clicked his fingers, and walked over – he didn't think he was there for _him_.

"Hola," Leo said, sitting down opposite him.

Nico blinked.

"So," Leo continued, taking off his tool belt and placing it on the table. A few bits of dirty machinery fell out, and Nico noticed the library assistant, who hadn't stopped staring at Leo, almost passed out.

"What do you want?" Nico groaned. He didn't want to be banned – which he assumed Leo had been, until he passed her the note. He liked sitting here, going (usually) unnoticed.

Leo ignored him. Instead, he flipped the book Nico was in the middle of to the front page, read it, and then flipped it back to the page he had been up to. "Thank the _gods_ for Mr B. He gave" – he jutted a thumb behind him to the library assistant – "a note saying she had to _uplift_ my banishment. He's awesome."

"Right," Nico said.

Leo shrugged. "Right? We have to work on our project. I'm calling it, wait for it... the Argo II!"

"Wonderful," Nico said.

Leo continued, unfazed. "We can't do it here obviously, but I saw you come this way – god knows why – so I followed. Well, I had to run back to Mr B to get a note first – do you know how hard it was to convince him? – but anyway, we have to find somewhere. I was thinking we could go to your place, since the workshop is closed to students. There was an, heh, _accident_ a few weeks ago."

Nico didn't want to know what Leo did to ruin this privilege – and oh, he _knew_ it was Leo who did it.

"We can't go to my house," he said quickly.

"How come?" Leo said. "We can't go to mine."

"I wasn't suggesting that," Nico said, "but don't you have somewhere, a spare table, we can work on in your mom's garage?"

Leo scratched his neck. "Maybe."

"Great," he said. "When?"

"Tomorrow night?" Leo suggested.

For once Leo was cooperative. They decided on a plan, and while Nico wasn't fond of walking home – at least, to the garage – with Leo, he was at least okay knowing it was for the project for school.

Leo smiled at him. "So, amigo, what are we doing now?"

"Goodbye, Leo."

"But–"

Nico waved. Leo grumbled and stood up, not to the dislike of Nico and the library assistant. She looked impressed – shocked maybe – Leo hadn't blown the place up. Nico wouldn't be surprised if Leo had blown a place up before. Maybe set it on fire and burnt it down to pieces. He just hoped nobody got hurt.

"You're no fun," Leo said.

As Leo left, raising his hands to the library assistant, Nico managed a small smile.

...

To his dismay, Leo was waiting for Nico as he left his last class on Friday, a grin on his face as usual. Nico wondered briefly how long he had been there. Had he even gone to lessons? His tie was extra messed up, his shirt crumpled and his black curls mussed even more than usual, which was a lot, almost like somebody had been running their hands through them and other places.

Nico's faced flushed red. Leo wasn't the best looking kid, but he was such a flirt, he probably did have a girl to mess around with in last period. That's why he didn't go to class. He probably went into the further hills on the fields, doing things Nico didn't even want to think about.

"What's up with you?" Leo said, raising his eyebrows. "You look angry."

Nico shook his head. "Nothing."

He walked away from Leo, even though he soon realised he didn't actually know where he was going. The garage. He'd stumbled across that by accident once, but he wouldn't know the way. It was a little past the hills, but he didn't want to go past there. Not at all. Was there another way? If there was, he didn't know. If there was any other way –

"Are you blushing?" Leo said, following close behind. Nico could hear his smile. "Nico di Angelo, you big ladies man, you. Who is she? Did you let her borrow your bio notes in return for a kiss? Did she give you a good time under the table?"

If Nico could go any redder, he probably would've. "Shut _up_."

Leo winked. "Don't worry about it."

Yeah, Nico thought. He probably knew all about that.

He stopped at his locker, making Leo lose his steps and bump into a big figure. He looked frightened for a second, but then his grin came back and he apologised with his hands raised. The girl – she looked familiar – stomped her huge foot and raised her fist, but she was just teasing. Angrily. Her face was pulled back into a snarl envying a bull.

Clarisse la Rue. Why wasn't he surprised?

"You need to watch your step," Nico said.

"Nah," Leo said. "It wouldn't make a difference."

Nico pulled out his neat black coat and scarf, pulling them on over his tucked-in shirt and knotted tie. He didn't think he could look any different than him than in that moment. If he had been wearing his aviator jacket, which he normally did, than perhaps he would've fit in with Leo, who had just pulled on an army jacket. But not really. Even his hair, which was shaggy and long, wasn't as messy.

"Don't forget to iron your blazer and shine your shoes," Leo said.

Nico scowled at him.

Leo led the way, stopping once to get a huge bag of flavoured laces. He offered Nico some, but he refused. No wonder Leo was always hyperactive; if he ate that much sugar, he was surprised he even had teeth. As Leo ate and hummed – badly – silly tunes, like the theme tune for Pysch, Nico kicked little pebbles and wished he were anywhere else.

One half of him reminded him of the project, the other half willed him away, wanted him to escape crazy Leo.

As it was, Leo didn't take him past the hills. He suggested it, but something in Nico's face stopped him immediately. Nico really didn't want to go past there, to relive the memories. And Leo seemed to sense it, because he said there was another way to go, although it would take a little longer. Nico didn't care; he'd take an extra ten minutes with Leo Valdez if he could avoid going past there.

Leo took him through a little forest, where the leaves were already turning red and brown and falling down. Some pink petals fell so they covered Leo and Nico's coats; it almost looked like the setting for the romantic movies Bianca used to force Nico to watch with her. His heart clenched, but he didn't know if it were because of Bianca or the thought of him and Leo in any romantic setting.

He side-eyed Leo, who had his hands in his pockets, looking up at the leaves and the petals with a small, contented smile on his face. It felt like something was fluttering in Nico's stomach, watching Leo so happily walk through something he'd probably seen a billion times before.

"I sometimes avoid the hills, too," Leo said some time after Nico had stopped watching him. They were reaching a clearing, and Nico could see the garage now.

"Why?"

Leo looked at him. Nico noticed something that he hadn't before, and he mentally, internally kicked himself for not seeing it, for not recognising it. Leo's lip was split – it was a harsh, albeit small, cut. Nico saw that Leo's collar had a little bit of dry blood on it. How hadn't he seen it in school?

Leo cocked his head to one side like he was studying Nico's expression. "Don't worry about it," he said softly. "They're jerks. I'm used to it."

Nico had a horrible mental picture of Leo getting hit by somebody as big as Matt Sloan or Clarisse la Rue. Compared to him, they were practically giants. Sure, he was about 5'6 – but they were huge kids. Brute bullies.

Nico got an odious taste in his mouth.

Leo stitched a grin on his face and made a funny face, which made his cut look even more painful. Nico winced. He wondered, for the first time since he'd met him, how much of Leo's humour and good-nature was a mask.

The garage was closed, but Leo had a key in his tool belt. He opened it, led Nico inside and flicked on a light. There were a few cars and motorcycles still, and a desk on the back wall was covered in newspapers and magazines and different pieces of paper. Paraphernalia from bits of machinery littered the desk. It was filthy, full with oil and grime. But Leo treated it carefully, like this was his home.

Leo made camp at the little desk, piling together a bunch of the sheets like it didn't matter what order they were in. He pulled out a chair and wiped it with the cleanest rag on the desk, and then presented it to Nico. "My highness."

Nico rolled his eyes and sat down. He placed his hands on his knees, trying to avoid looking at Leo's lips. "So what are we doing?"

"Oh, well, I already made the base," he said. He reached beneath the desk and pulled it out – and it looked exactly like it did on the picture. He pointed to different parts of it as he said, "These will hold the sides of the ship; this will make it rock back and forth; and this is obviously the underneath. I was thinking we could decorate it with, like, sea colours. Yeah?"

If Leo would've mentioned it, Nico wouldn't have been able to deny staring at him. Although energetic still, he was almost quieter and more relaxed as he worked. Nico pondered this; as he seemed more at home here, was the energy and enthusiasm he had in school just him itching to get back here, to get his hands dirty and build/fix something?

"Um, could you just go into the cupboard there and grab me a hammer? Mr B confiscated mine," Leo said, waving to the side.

Nico stood up and walked over to the other side, ducking past a car on a levelled platform. There were a few doors but no cupboards. Nico frowned. He was going to ask Leo, but decided to just test his luck. To his right, a heavy steel door. He curled his hand around the handle as he heard:

"Wait, not that one!"

The door swung open nevertheless. Leo shot up, running to close it, slipping on a patch of grease, but Nico was staring inside of it. Even if Leo did close it, Nico already saw what was inside.

A metal bed with a thin, threadbare blanket lined the wall. Above it, a bunch of pictures – some torn and burnt? – were tacked, as well as some drawings that immediately identified the room as Leo's. It wasn't tiny, but as Nico stepped inside, curious beyond thought, he found that the only other things in there were a small, partially broken desk that had a stack of paper and a pot of pens on it, and a stack of clothes in the corner.

Nico had never been in a place like it. To him, it was practically a closet. The floor was splintered; the walls were shedding plaster; and the bed? Nico wouldn't even sleep on that if he was paid. It looked extraordinarily uncomfortable.

Slowly, he turned back to Leo, who was staring at the wall. Just as laggard, he walked over to the wall and tugged down a picture. "I don't remember putting that up there."

"Leo," Nico said.

Leo assessed the picture. Over his shoulder, Nico could see it was of a pretty Latino woman and a man so muscled he looked like he might be a wrestler – except he wore overalls, and she wore similar. Leo's parents.

"Leo," he tried again.

Leo turned around and placed the photo down on the desk. He didn't look at Nico as he said, "Yeah?"

"Look, I get that–"

"No, you really don't," Leo said. "But carry on."

They stayed silent for a few minutes. Nico didn't know what to say, or whether or not he _should_ say anything. He looked around the room again. "Is this... is this permanent?"

Leo ignored him.

"Leo," he said.

"_What_?" Leo said, spinning around. "You gonna tell me you understand? Well, you don't. I know where you live, Nico. That big house – no, mansion – behind the fields? Everybody knows. And you walk around school like you're so much better than everybody else – and – and you might be. Yeah, you might be better than us – but that doesn't mean you can treat people the way you do and push people out. Some people try and make friends with you, and you don't even care about them. You judge them."

Now Nico really didn't know what to say. He was afraid that if he did, he might say something to offend Leo – something really bad that he couldn't take back. What was Leo implying? That it was his fault he had no friends? His fault people treated him the way they did?

His whole body shook with anger and his fists clenched unwillingly by his sides. Leo watched him, seemingly more calmed down than before. He went to say something, but Nico held up a shaky hand. "_Don't_."

He pushed past Leo and marched over to get his schoolbag, leaving the partly done project there. Leo had worked quickly, assembling the small dragon's head for the mast. It was so well done, Nico thought it probably breathed fire as well. On second thought, in a moment of anger, he slapped the dragon/half-ship off the table so it hit the floor, smashing into a billion pieces.

Then he left, walking towards the fields, because he had nowhere else to go.

**A/N **Nico u lil shit ~

Poor Festus :(


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: The Swim Meet**

Although she was secretary of the school council, Annabeth didn't have much of an input into what was happening on the school's fundraising day. Actually, up until the moment she arrived at the school, she didn't know anything that was happening except what Percy had invited her to.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who wasn't even on the council, had arranged a little booklet to help show everybody around. Annabeth insisted that she didn't really need it (she didn't add on that she was only going to the swim meet), but Rachel gave her one anyway.

Annabeth had to admit, the artwork around school, all courtesy of Rachel, was amazing.

She followed a sign towards the swimming pool, excitement bubbling in her. She wondered if Percy was already there. If he was, he'd probably be getting ready. But perhaps she could find him and wish him luck before the competition started.

She spotted Piper McLean sitting on the left bleachers, wearing old faded jeans and an orange t-shirt – the swimming teams. She was chatting to Travis and Connor Stoll, Annabeth's friends in her grade, who were not people you trusted for more than a few minutes. In fact, Annabeth saw Connor's hand was edging towards Piper's faux-leather bag, itching to get inside.

Annabeth walked over and slapped Connor's hand away, and he rubbed it, moaning. Piper rolled her eyes. "Moron," she said, snatching her bag away, and then turning to Annabeth. "What's up?"

"Hey," she said, sitting down beside her. Travis and Connor left. People started to flood into the swimming hall, wearing a mix of purple and orange t-shirts. She spotted Jason Grace, a guy she'd always been unsure on, walking into the hall, his face as serious as it always had been.

He started to walk over to them, a little shyly. Annabeth tried to smile, but she couldn't really manage it to look natural. Piper, on the other hand, smiled and waved. Then she turned to Annabeth and said, "Is he coming here?"

"I think so," Annabeth said.

Sure enough, Jason walked up the stairs of the bleachers beside them and pointed to the seats on Piper's other side. "Hey," he said. "Is anybody sitting there?"

"Nope," Piper said, patting the seat, interrupting Annabeth, who went to say that perhaps Grover or Leo wanted to sit there. "It's all yours."

Jason smiled at her, and she returned it with a gleam in her eyes. Annabeth turned away, feeling like she was intruding on something private. As soon as her eyes moved away, she saw somebody staring at Piper and Jason and her, and a cold chill crept up her spine.

Reyna. She'd never thought much on Reyna, except that she was exceptionally good at what she did – lead the school, given that she was the class president – and she reminded Annabeth of herself. Not necessary her looks – steely brown eyes, long, shiny black hair – because Annabeth barely remembered to brush her blonde, curly hair every day, and her eyes were a stormy gray – but her attitude. Her face. She had a hardness that Annabeth, too, had endured over years.

Reyna glanced at her, her measured look leaving Jason, who was chatting to Piper as though they'd always been friends. Annabeth thought she saw her face change a little bit – her eyebrow lifted, the corners of her mouth twitched so slightly she could barely notice it. But she paid attention to people, and she _did_ notice it.

She waved. Reyna turned away.

People were still walking into the hall when Annabeth spotted Percy. Her stomach flipped at the sight of him, because he was walking over to them, a silly grin on his face. A few weeks ago, she would've found that annoying. It was slowly growing on her, like everything else he did. Slowly, but surely.

"Hey, guys," he said, and then his eyes fell on Jason. "Um, hey."

"Hi," Jason said.

The two boys stared at each other like they didn't know what to say or do. Then somebody cleared their throat.

Leo stood next to Percy on the set of chairs below them, a weird look on his face, like he was annoyed but at the same time sad, confused. Those sorts of things. Annabeth gestured to him, raising her eyebrows.

Percy let him past, and Leo flopped down on the seat beside Annabeth. As Piper and Percy started talking animatedly, Annabeth asked Leo what was wrong. He shrugged.

"Is it Nico?" she asked.

"What?" Leo said. "Why would it be him? I don't care about him. I hate him."

"Okay," she said, tapping his knee. He wore his suspenders today, since it was a Saturday and therefore they didn't need to wear their uniform, and he wouldn't stop fiddling with them.

Annabeth knew Nico di Angelo – barely, but she knew him, nonetheless. And she also knew that he and Leo were starting a budding bromance of bickering and teasing – at least, she'd thought so. Very, very rarely was she wrong. It seemed Leo didn't really know how to react when he got close to anybody. With Piper and Percy it was different, because they were so alike it was hard for them not to get along, but people usually felt put off by Leo's abrasive attitude and over-the-top personality, sense of humour.

Sure, Leo was nice, but sometimes he was too much. Annabeth was glad she wasn't in his friendship group, or maybe she'd start to get too sick of him.

Annabeth caught Percy staring at her, a small smile on his lips. When she looked at him, he straightened. "Hi."

"Hi," she said.

Percy moved so he was standing in front of her, albeit a row down. He was wearing denim shorts and a gray t-shirt, and a black leather necklace with different designs of beads on. His black hair was windblown, and his trademark smirk was on his face. Annabeth had to admit, he looked good.

"Can I tell you something?" Percy said. Annabeth nodded. "Okay. If I'm honest, I didn't think you were going to come."

Annabeth nodded again. "Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Percy said.

"I wasn't going to," she said.

Percy smiled. "Well, I'm glad you did."

Annabeth looked around the room. The place was crowded now; people from all over the city, people she knew and otherwise, were sat on the bleachers, all there to watch Percy's team and another school's team go against each other in relays, solos, and – Annabeth would have to check, but she swore Rachel had added in a game of water polo as an extra. She smiled, despite all the feeling of protest and nervousness she had felt beforehand.

"Yeah," she said. "Me too."

...

Percy didn't have his solo race until 12.15, and Annabeth sat through the relays twitching her leg in nervous anticipation. When Percy's team won the first round of relays, Piper and Leo let out enormous screams, waving orange banners; Jason and Annabeth hid their faces in embarrassment.

But it was all good fun. Around an hour in, Grover joined them, gushing so excitedly about a girl he'd just met that they almost missed Percy's solo race. As he stood on his podium, Annabeth swore she saw him wink at her – but she was probably just imagining it.

Anyway, Percy won. Nobody doubted he would, Annabeth thought, but some people still acted surprised. All of their school's supporters screamed just as loud as Piper and Leo did. Connor and Travis Stoll, returning from stealing a packet of tissues (since they never stole anything with value – usually) from a woman's bag, joined them and let out whooping shouts.

Annabeth turned to Jason. "Do they always act like this?"

Jason, who still wore an ironed shirt and pressed jeans even on his day off school, shrugged his shoulders lightly. "I have no idea."

"They're not your friends?" Come to think of it, Annabeth hadn't seen Jason hang around with Piper or Connor or Leo before, but he almost, despite his appearance, fit in perfectly with them.

"No."

"Well." Annabeth didn't know what to say. "Not yet, then."

Leo slapped Jason's back as though he'd heard everything Jason and Annabeth had just spoke about. "Jason Grace. Are you actually getting into team spirit?" He eyed the little orange flag in Jason's hand, which Piper had given him. "You're not as uptight as I thought."

Piper turned around and gave him a look. "Shut up, Leo."

Jason shrugged good-naturedly. "Percy's really good."

"Duh!" Leo said. "His dad is, like, the superman of the sea. Hey, Pipes, hasn't he got a gold medal from the Olympics?"

Connor Stoll turned around. "Percy's dad? Hasn't he got three?"

"I want one," Travis said.

"In that case," Piper said, "we'll be keeping you far away from him."

"It's not like he keeps it on him, Piper!" Connor said, although he looked like he might be thinking about it thoroughly.

"Why don't you go and ask him?" Jason said.

"Wait, what?" Annabeth asked.

Jason looked at her. "Isn't that him?" He pointed to the other set of bleachers, where the overflow of their school's supporters sat.

A familiar man with black hair, green eyes and a dark beard stood in a pair of board shorts, sandals and a Hawaiian t-shirt. Something on his neck caught Annabeth's attention: a black leather necklace with different coloured beads. As though he'd heard his name, he turned his head ever so slightly until he was looking at Annabeth and her group.

Annabeth ducked behind Connor Stoll, who had stood up to get a better view of the water polo game. Grover did a weird limp-dance, holding on to his cane. He glanced down at Annabeth. "Hey," he said, as though noticing her for the first time. "Are you okay?"

"Just looking for something," she said.

Jason looked at Piper and asked her a question. Piper shook her head, but she looked worried. "Hold on," Annabeth heard her say. Piper ducked so she was level with Annabeth, and raised her hands. "Let me guess. Your mom doesn't know you're here?"

"Um," Annabeth said.

Piper nodded as though she understood which Annabeth doubted she did. Her mother wasn't involved so much in that side of things. Her mother was almost normal – and, in the grand argument, she had been neutral, Annabeth believed. Why did Annabeth have to have the crazy mom?

"Hold on," Piper said. She stood up, and looked at Jason. Annabeth didn't know who Jason's father or mother was, but she hoped for his sake that he had a normal family so he didn't have to be involved in these sorts of things. Apart from (maybe) her dad, Annabeth had no normalcy in her hectic family life.

Jason didn't look like he understood what Piper was asking, but he nodded anyway. He shrugged out off his huge purple letterman jacket and handed it down to her. "I didn't say anything wrong, did I?" he asked, sounding worried.

"Of course not," Piper said at the same time that Annabeth shoved her arms through Jason's jacket. It was too big for her, but then, it was too big for him too. Annabeth really didn't understand why the jocks in her school wore these. She'd never seen Percy wear one, though, which she supposed was a good thing.

"Okay," Piper said. "I think that'll do. I don't suppose you'd want to borrow Leo's suspenders and Grover's cap."

Annabeth shot her a glare.

Grover and Leo gave her confused glances as she crawled past them, excusing herself. When she got to the end, she stood, hoping Percy's father didn't recognise her. If her mother found out where she was, she would be in deep trouble.

Then again, she didn't know whether or not his father would tell her mom – after all, they seriously hated each other. But that was the thing. It went deeper than hate, years and years of rivalry and fights and arguments. This was why Annabeth wasn't supposed to even talk to Percy. She couldn't be seen at his event – anything else, like the dissecting class in science or the art fair was okay, because Percy Jackson wasn't there. And she especially couldn't be seen sitting with his friends, all of whom had parents who played roles in the years this had gone on – whether or not they knew it yet or not.

Silena Beauregard caught her arm as she ducked her head and walked down the stairs. "Hey, are you okay? And have you seen Charlie?"

"He's probably with Jake and Will," Annabeth said, answering the most important question.

Silena flicked her dark hair behind her shoulder and sighed. "I haven't seen him anywhere."

"Sorry," Annabeth said, and left around the side of the bleachers.

...

The event was supposed to last the whole day, but different areas finished earlier than others. For example the art fair, which Annabeth reluctantly sat beside Rachel Elizabeth Dare in, went on until after the swim meet had finished. Tiredly, Annabeth flicked through the information booklet, reading the little sections underneath each subtitle of events.

Somebody nudged her shoulder. Rachel held out a bag of fudge. "Want one?"

Annabeth stared at her. As always, Rachel's über-curly ginger hair flew out like a mane on her head, but she had little blue clips so none fell in her face. Her jeans were ripped, and it wasn't the design of them; Annabeth figured Rachel ripped them herself. Those, and her t-shirt, were splattered with different colours of paints.

Annabeth wondered briefly whether or not Percy liked her – and then shook that thought away because it didn't matter. Not to her.

"I'm okay," she said to the fudge. "Thanks though."

Rachel shrugged. "Are you enjoying the day?"

"Is this for some kind of survey?" Annabeth asked, her eyes trained on the booklet.

She felt Rachel shrug. "Perhaps." Then, after a beat: "I know you didn't think the trip was a valuable source for the money to go to, but thanks for coming. Even if it was for Percy."

Annabeth felt heat rise to her cheeks. "I didn't come for Percy," she said levelly, still not looking up.

Rachel might've smiled and she might've frowned – Annabeth didn't know, because she refused to look at her. Eventually, she said, "I better go see how they got on." She stood and raised a hand. "See you."

"Yeah," Annabeth said, staring at the booklet but not really reading it anymore. "Bye."

Rachel left and Annabeth concurred up different scenarios in her head. Rachel and Percy probably had plans to hang out after this, and then maybe they'd watch a movie together or go to the skate park – whatever they liked to do for fun. Annabeth frowned.

It wasn't like she cared about them – which she didn't – she just didn't think Percy and Rachel went well together, that was all.

As she picked up her bag and prepared to walk home, she realised that it didn't really matter what she thought. She wasn't allowed to feel that way – not that she did, but anyway. Percy was off-limits even if she wanted him as a _friend_, never mind anything else.

She shook her head. Maybe it would be okay, considering she didn't actually live with her mother. Maybe she wouldn't find out that Annabeth had started to befriend Percy, and then she wouldn't have anything to worry about.

...

She got home and dumped her bag down. Somewhere, she could hear her father talking heatedly to somebody, but she didn't care to find out whom. Her stepmother was in the kitchen cooking something Annabeth wouldn't eat. She could see her from the doorway. Upon Annabeth's arrival and for the first time in months, she acknowledged her existence (other than to reprimand her), and looked up.

"There's somebody here who wants to see you," she said dryly.

Annabeth went to answer, but her stepmother shrugged as though helplessly. Whatever.

She walked into the living area, where she expected her guest would be, since her stepmother hadn't said anything else. Instead, she heard the levelled, measured tone of a voice she recognised all too well from somewhere behind her: "Hello, Annabeth."

Annabeth stopped in her tracks and closed her eyes. Oh, she was so screwed.

**A/N **I'm a little bit meh about the last part of this chapter but whatever. I hope you enjoyed. :D

Also it's been questioned and I feel like I need to confirm: Leo/Nico ARE going to be a couple, just a little more slow-progressing and problematic. Keep in mind that nobody actually knows of their sexualities yet; Nico being gay and Leo being bisexual. (/spoiler/ I guess but I feel like that was obvious. There is too much in canon showing his attraction to certain girls to assume he is gay, so I'm not going to completely flail away from canon.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Dragons, Fire And The Argo 2**

Leo hadn't spoken to Nico since he'd broken his dragon.

Dang, Leo had worked so hard on that. Granted, it only took him a few minutes for his nimble fingers to assemble the basics – but still. If Nico's little hissy fit wasn't enough, he'd had to destroy Festus as well. Leo loved Festus like he was real; he'd almost cried when he'd seen the damage the stupid Ghost King had done.

It didn't help that Nico had shown up at the swim meet. Leo hadn't looked at him – he'd been busy sulking in the corner – but Jason Grace, who Leo had decided was his new best friend, had mentioned seeing him. And afterwards, when Leo third-wheeled on Jason and Piper's coffee shop lunch date, Leo had seen Nico again.

Nico hadn't even looked at him.

Despite Leo wanting to help fix Nico's moodiness, he didn't appreciate how the kid acted around him, like he was a hydrogen bomb ready to explode. He wasn't _that_ bad.

It didn't help that he was on his way to wood shop. If he hadn't been given a formal warning – _again_ – for skipping lessons, he wouldn't have gone. But he got caught up with the crowds walking that way, narrowly – but thankfully successfully – avoiding Hazel Levesque and her boyfriend Frank.

Leo did not want to go down that road again.

Once inside the workshop, he saw Nico sitting at their usual bench at the back, his head on his arms, which were spread across the height of the table. As usual, he was being depressing. Seriously, his whole anti-world act was starting to rub Leo the wrong way.

Leo walked boisterously down the middle aisle, whistling, and stopped at their bench. He threw his bag down, and it might've accidentally hit Nico's arms – but he didn't flinch. Leo scowled.

Instead of saying anything, he moved so he was behind the other stool, and pulled it out so it scratched across the tiles, making a screeching noise like angered birds. Nico still didn't move.

Leo wanted to whine. Nico was being _so_ difficult.

He dropped down on his stool and banged his elbows down on the desk. Nico was being so still, so unnaturally silent that he had to ask, "Jeez, are you dead or something?"

"I wish," Nico mumbled.

"Whoa." Leo scratched the back of his neck. He hoped Nico was kidding – although if he was, he had a sick sense of humour to say something like that. Obviously he'd never been fully affected by the death of somebody close, which Leo had been, to know that death jokes weren't funny. But if he wasn't joking... Leo wouldn't know how to react.

Nico sat up, his dark eyes glistening with something unreadable. "I didn't mean that."

"Yeah," Leo said. "Then don't say it."

Nico eyed him warily, as though he were about to explode. It was usually how most teachers and even some of his friends looked at him. "Are you still mad about your dragon?"

Leo shrugged. Yeah, he was. But he wasn't going to say that, because he didn't want to show Nico his true feelings – and he didn't want to downplay how good he actually was. He could easily rebuild Festus – using the head, which was the only piece of him that still remained.

"Are you sure?"

"Nah," he said. "I mean, yeah, I'm sure. It's just a dragon."

"But it was our project," Nico said, looking at the bench. "I shouldn't have snapped like that."

Yeah, Leo thought. It was a little late for that.

That lesson they had a supply teacher who didn't know what she was doing – not unlike their own teacher – so Leo pulled out something from his tool belt, a silly little robot again, to work on. He didn't have Festus' head with him; otherwise, he would've started working on it again.

Nico didn't say anything again; he stretched his arms out again and rest his head on them. Leo stared at him, although he tried to hide the fact he was. Honestly, he'd started to get used to Nico's sunken, depressed attitude – and he'd carefully been trying to work out why that was, so he could help him – but lately he'd been different.

Leo internally sighed. "Alright," he said. "I forgive you."

Nico lift up his head again and raised a questioning eyebrow. Leo gestured around him, as though that showed him anything. Then, looking down at his tool belt, which had thrown up its contents so they sat on the table, he picked up little scrap parts of metal that he kept for repairs. In around five minutes, he had finished.

"See?" he said, holding up a miniature dragon figurine; it was no Festus, but the basic idea was there. "It's okay that you attacked my dragon" – Nico might've rolled his eyes, but he couldn't tell – "because I can make another one. Our project is fine," he added hastily, because Nico probably didn't care at all about Festus.

Nico looked at it in awe. "Whoa."

Leo couldn't help but smile. Awesome. He'd made Nico do something that wasn't glare or scowl – success. "Yeah," he said. "Festus' design is a little different though. Hey – maybe this can be his brother! Or friend." He almost started giggling, he was so pumped. "It can be _me and you_."

"I'm not a dragon. Or your–"

"My?"

"Never mind," Nico said.

Leo shook his head and looked down at the little dragon in his hands. Festus could be him, because he was way better (and Leo was working on getting him to breathe fire, which Leo would never admit he used to think he could do). This little guy could be Nico, and they could sit together on the foremast.

"I think you're going a bit off topic here," Nico said, frowning. He gestured to the two freshmen girls in front of him. "They're making _Titanic_."

"Psh. Who cares about the _Titanic_?" Leo said. "Come on! We have the _Argo 2_."

Nico started shaking his head, but he didn't protest. Instead, he said, "Whatever. Just give me something to do."

"Um." Leo wondered what Nico was good at – being moody, being antisocial, and being depressing. But they weren't skills. At least not skills useful to building a ship. He snapped his fingers. "Are you any good at art?"

Nico shrugged. "Why?"

"Because I'm not," he said. "I'm good at anatomy and all that. But not really drawing or design."

Nico looked at their planning sheet like he was mulling this over. Leo watched the way his mouth twitched. Leo started nervously tapping on the table, until he realised what he was doing. Sometimes his ADHD started getting the better of him – and he'd go into Morse Code instead, something his mother had taught him when he was a kid.

He stopped tapping and pushed some hair behind his ear. "Well?"

"I can paint it." Nico shrugged his shoulders.

"Better than nothing. Let's go!"

"Um," Nico said, "isn't the ship at your mom's garage? How are we supposed to work on it if we don't have it here?"

Leo blinked. Of course – he'd left the ship and Festus in the garage.

"It's a shame we can't leave school early to work on it," Leo said.

"Yeah," Nico replied vacuously.

Leo stared at him. "Yeah."

Nico scribbled down stuff in his planner, and Leo waited for him to understand. Moments later he looked up and shook his head. "I'm not skipping school with you. No way."

Leo groaned. "Why not? We only have to skip last lesson." He grabbed Nico's planner from under his grasp and flicked to the timetable. "Can you really not miss creative writing? It's not like we're not being creative; we'll be working on our project!"

"No," Nico said, snatching the planner back. One of the kids from the front row turned and sniggered at them.

"Come on, man. I want to have the most awesome ship," Leo said, oblivious. "If we get the best grade, ours gets displayed in the Christmas fair!"

Nico's small nose wrinkled. "Christmas fair?"

"Uh-huh. Please?"

Nico shrugged his shoulders, but Leo could practically see his mental mechanisms whirring. Oh, he so wanted to skip class with Leo and hang out with him. He just perhaps didn't know it yet himself.

"Maybe I could just come over after school?" Nico offered.

"That's good enough for me!" Leo grinned. "Come on, let's plan."

...

Leo skipped his last lesson anyway, despite the formal warning lingering in his brain. Whatever. Let him get kicked out of another school and watch the authorities try and find a place for him. It wasn't like it would work anyway – he didn't fit in anywhere, no matter how hard he – or they – tried.

So he just kicked about in the hallways, hit in the toilets from Octavian, and went into the courtyard and pulled funny faces in the window at Piper, who had bailed on him, when her teacher wasn't looking.

When he came back into the hallway just a few minutes before the bell was going to go, he almost bumped into the same goddess girl he'd seen a few weeks earlier in his wood shop. Calypso. When Leo had seen her on another day and looked at her for maybe a little bit longer than he should have, Percy had grinned at him and told him her name. But he wouldn't explain how he knew her, which annoyed Leo.

Calypso looked at him tiredly. "Excuse me."

Leo stepped out of her way and swept his arm out. "See ya."

Calypso glared at him and looked like she wanted to punch him, and he wouldn't have been surprised if she did. Instead, she stood on his toe and walked away, swishing her long, cinnamon-coloured hair behind her shoulders so it flowed down her back. Leo watched her go, and then shook his head.

He walked into the English hall and waited outside the opposite wall from Nico's class. He could see him in the front row, the nerd, writing down from the board reverently. Then the bell rang, and he jumped a little. Leo watched him stand, collect his things, and wait to be dismissed.

He thought about how different he was to Nico – and not just that he was orphan and didn't have any money to his name except whatever the garage, which he technically owned, brought in. Nico was smart, and he was focused. Days before, Leo had overheard Hazel talking to Piper (which really didn't happen often), and she'd said she was worried Leo would be a bad influence.

At first, Leo had thought Hazel and Nico were a thing, which now made him laugh. Hazel was actually Nico's half-sister through their recluse, psychopathic dad. Leo could sort of relate. He had an absent father too, although he'd never actually met his.

Nico tapped his shoulder and stood in front of him with a half-catlike-smirk/half-frown, which was the oddest combination. "You were daydreaming."

"I was thinking," Leo corrected.

The two boys walked through the halls, stopping at one another's lockers. Leo peered inside Nico's, which was scarce except for his books; there was only one thing tacked on the inside door, and that was a picture of a beautiful woman in a black dress and white gloves, and a girl who was obviously her daughter with a braid. They both had olive skin, and the girl held a boy in her arms, hugging him tightly. Leo wondered who –

Nico slammed his locker shut. He regarded Leo darkly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Um," Leo said, refusing to look in his eyes. "I just need to stop at my locker if that's okay."

Leo's locker was cluttered. He had pictures tacked on the inside, of Piper and him, of his mother and him. Drawings of inventions and designs and little dragons, which were becoming his new obsession. A little red bandana, which belonged to Nyssa, was hanging on the hook. His school books were another story, thrown inside and disregarded. Leo hadn't used the majority of them. And all around, bits of paper and candy wrappers and tools.

Nico made a throaty, vaguely disgusted sound – but he covered it up with a cough.

Leo slipped on his army jacket and grinned. "Let's go."

He was so excited to work on Festus and the ship and incorporate things that he and Nico had planned in the lesson that he didn't stop off to get his flavoured laces from the candy shop Silena Beauregard's father owned.

Nico followed him and didn't say a word. Again, Leo took Nico through the little forest and meadow. The petals that fell on Nico's black coat and into his hair made Nico scowl, his cheeks going pink. Leo laughed.

Truthfully, the meadow hurt a little. His mother had taken him this way everyday when she picked him up from preschool, and she'd pretend it was their little secret world that nobody else knew about.

He and Nico stepped out, and Leo opened up the garage to let Nico inside. He'd felt a little awkward the first time, what with the cut on his lip. Nobody else had noticed it, and Nico had regarded him like he was a hazard afterwards. It wasn't like it was a new thing.

It _always_ happened, but Leo didn't like to talk about it.

"Not wiping the seat clean?" Leo asked as Nico pulled out a stool with a ripped leather seat and sat down. As soon as he'd said it, Nico glared at him.

Leo raised his hands. "Let's just try and get through this without you killing me."

...

Leo worked with Nico on the project for what felt like hours, but he didn't care. He loved building and creating new things, and his head spun with ideas so quickly that he had to sit down to stop himself from toppling over he was so dizzy. Nico was actually helpful, too, and as soon as Leo fixed together the ship and the two dragons, he pulled out a paint tin – from the right cupboard this time.

"Ready?" Nico asked, struggling a little bit under the weight of the tin. Some of the red paint that was dripping from the lid fell onto the floor and some got onto Nico's fingers, but if he cared, he didn't show it.

Leo grinned. "Of course." He rolled up the sleeves of his white school shirt, ripped off his tie and picked up a black paint tin. Nico stared at him. "What?"

"You're not seriously painting in your uniform," Nico said.

"Uh," Leo started. He placed down the tin, went over to the cupboard and pulled out two aprons. "Okay?"

Nico frowned. "I guess."

Leo whipped on the apron, so excited to get started that he didn't wait for Nico, who was pulling all the stops to make sure he didn't get any of the paint on his clothes. Instead of picking up one of the brushes Nico was deliberating through, he dipped his hand in the paint, giggled – and threw it onto Nico.

Nico paused, going completely still. For a second Leo was worried he was going to jab the paintbrush into his abdomen. Instead he pushed it into the paint, and streaked the brush down Leo's face.

Through a mouthful of red paint, Leo coughed. He could see through his new red mask that Nico looked furious – although after wiping himself with the cleanest rag in the garage, he passed it to Leo. Leo didn't wipe his face; he got a fistful of paint and grabbed Nico's hair.

"Ow!" Nico protested. Leo loosened his hold, but when he tried to turn away, he tripped on his shoelaces. He placed out his palms, thinking he was going to hit the floor, but instead fell onto Nico, leaving two black handprints on his chest.

Leo wiped his face with the back of his sleeve and smiled. "Oops. Sorry."

"You did that on purpose," Nico muttered. Leo cocked his head. Was Nico blushing?

Leo raised his hands. "Get me back if you want."

"I tried!" Nico said. "You tried to assault me."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic. I was only trying to paint my ship."

He turned to the ship and saw, devastatingly, some of the paint from his and Nico's fight had gotten onto it. He wanted to scream. Now it just looked messy, and how was he supposed to fix it?

Nico came beside him and studied it. Surprisingly, he reached his hand into the red paint and wiped his finger up the side, testing it. He turned to Leo. "Do you have any yellow? Orange?"

Leo pointed to the cupboard, but didn't turn his eyes away from Nico. "I think there might be some in there."

"I think I know how to fix it." Nico came back, hauling two huge tins of yellow and orange paint. Leo took the yellow from him and placed it on the bench.

"Okay?" Leo said.

Nico's hands soon became covered in red, yellow, orange paint – and Leo thought it looked like fire. Then it clicked. Nico was painting the ship with a fire design. Using a brush (because his hands were all painted up with brighter colours), he took some black and painted a base coat. Then, without waiting for it to dry, he started finishing the fire he'd started with so much precision and artistry that Leo couldn't help but be impressed.

"Okay," he said. "That's cool."

Nico looked at him, and Leo swore he smiled. But he soon turned back to the Argo 2, working his magic. Pretty soon, the whole right side of the ship looked even better than Leo had first imagined. Swirled on a black base was a brilliant fire, and it didn't look messy anymore. It looked amazing.

Leo grinned. "That's _so_ cool."

"Thanks," Nico said, wiping his hands on a rag. He didn't look at Leo. "Um, we should finish the other sides tomorrow or something. It's getting a bit late. And we could work on the dragons in class, if that's–"

Leo was so happy, he placed his paint-covered hands on Nico's cheeks and kissed him.

When he pulled back, he was so full of happiness that he didn't have time to register the fact Nico was gaping at him. He turned back to the Argo 2, the most pleased he'd ever been, and just stared at it.

**A/N **I figure a lot of people who are reading this story are more interested in the Valdangelo side of things, so I hope this was one you guys will like!

Please don't assume it's all going to be smooth-sailing (heh, like the Argo 2, get it?) from here. I mean, I meant what I said about problematic. And *zips mouth shut*

Also, did anybody notice how the last chapter bumped the story to exactly 22,222 words? Because I did.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Annabeth Is My Friend – Again **

Percy would never understand girls.

As soon as he'd thought he and Annabeth were becoming friends (not something more, like his friends annoyingly refused to give up on), she started ignoring him. Well, at first she was ignoring him. Then she started avoiding him as well. When Silena Beauregard sat with Percy and his friends one lunchtime and invited Annabeth, she'd refused, claiming she had something better to do.

It wasn't just that. She'd stopped tutoring him as well. One Latin lesson, Mr Brunner had walked over to his table and whispered to him that Annabeth would have to swap with somebody else – somebody named Malcolm – because she was so caught up with everything, all her AP classes, that she couldn't possibly manage it anymore.

Percy kept reliving the past month and a bit, wondering if he'd done something wrong. Then he remembered that Annabeth hadn't initially liked him anyway, and perhaps the original reason had something to do with it – although he didn't know what that was.

"Can you please tell me what's going on?" he begged Piper during their athletics class. She simply shrugged, stretching down to touch her toes.

"Can't," she said, reappearing.

Percy narrowed his eyes. "Why not?"

"Because its way too complicated," she told him.

Drew Tanaka strolled past on the running track, still wearing the school uniform she'd been reinventing since she was a freshman. Today she wore a little pink bowtie instead of her school tie, and a Chanel watch. She stunk of something fruity. When she whipped her hair behind her shoulders, a smell that reminded Percy of Christmas hit him.

"Hello, Percy," she said, smiling. Then she looked at Piper and scowled. "Dumpster Girl."

Percy went to say something, but Piper stopped him. "What do you want, Drew?" she said, sounding worn out.

"Is it true you've been seeing Jason Grace?" Drew asked. Percy had a feeling she already knew the answer.

Equally, Piper wasn't convinced. "Define 'seeing'."

Drew stared her down with a look so harsh it reminded Percy of Ms. Dodds. He grimaced.

"I guess," Piper said. On what seemed to be a second thought: "In fact, we're going out this weekend, just the two of us." Without Leo tagging along, Percy assumed.

Percy didn't know whether or not this was true, but Drew's reaction was priceless. She already hated Piper enough, for whatever (probably stupid) reasons she satisfied herself with, and if it appeared Piper was stealing the guy she liked, she'd go nuts.

"He's not right for you," Drew said wrathfully, "and he'll realise that soon. Pretty soon he'll toss you aside – which is _exactly_ what you deserve."

Drew stared at her through dark lashes, but Piper wasn't one to step down. Reluctantly, it seemed, Drew turned away. She stomped her foot and let out a frustrated groan, but then she was gone. Percy grinned.

"Seems we all have people trying to tell us what's right for us and not, don't we?" he mused. Piper's eyes went into slits.

"What are you trying to say?"

Percy shrugged. "You know."

Piper pointed a finger at him. "I'm not telling you about Annabeth. It's old news. Forget it."

"Old news?" Percy wrinkled his nose. How old could it be? He'd only known Annabeth going on two months. "It obviously can't be that old, otherwise she would still be speaking to me."

"I'm sure it's just while her – never mind."

"No! No, no. Tell me!"

Piper seemed to be weighing her options. Somewhere across the field, Coach Hedge was yelling at people who weren't doing what they were supposed to. Percy stretched some of his muscles, trying to look busy so Hedge wouldn't make them switch with the runners. Piper jogged on the spot.

"It's just a little complicated," Piper said eventually. "I'm sure she'll tell you soon."

"You know, if she ever speaks to me again."

"Give her time, Percy," Piper said. "It's not really my – my _story_ to tell."

Percy crossed his arms, but he couldn't stay mad at Piper for longer than a minute. He didn't understand why Annabeth hated him, but he'd have to figure it out in his own time. Or he could just play the same game back, and eventually, she would have to talk to him.

Whatever, he thought.

Coach Hedge blew his whistle, and Piper tapped his arm. She was smiling. "Race you?"

"You're on," he said, and followed her across the track.

...

Percy loved and hated the days his mom made him blue cupcakes. He loved it, because of course, they were his favourite type of food – sweet. But it always, no matter how much of a show his mom put on, meant that bad news was coming. In third grade was when it started; since then, he'd suffered getting kicked out of schools, distant family deaths, doctors appointments (he hated hospitals).

The blue cupcakes signified a whole different range of things that he wasn't sure what to expect – or what to hope for.

"Honey," his mom started.

Percy stopped kicking his legs against the cupboard under the counter he was sitting on, and said, through a mouthful of cupcake, "Uh-huh?"

His mom smiled gently, but her tone was almost expecting. "You never did tell me how you found the swim meet."

"Uh, it was okay?" Percy offered. "Mom, you were there."

His mom turned around, tightening the string on her apron. "Yeah. So I saw your father there, and remember Piper's mother? It's a shame she didn't stay for long. We had a nice little talk. Who's Jason?"

"Mom," Percy said. His mouth tasted dry, but he still had blue frosting on his tongue.

"Hmm?"

"Did you say you saw... dad?"

His mom turned around, looking so guilty he felt bad for bringing it up. But then again, his mom had made him blue cupcakes. Obviously she had wanted him to know; she'd just tried to disguise it. Usually, he wouldn't have noticed. But he had been trying harder to pay attention to things lately, as his new tutor Malcolm was even tougher than Annabeth (if you'd believe it), and he wanted to start getting better grades so he'd leave him alone. He had to stop zoning out in class, and apparently he picked up on when his mom was being shady, too.

"I'm sorry, dear," she said, wringing her hands together, "but..."

"I don't want to see him," Percy said. Truthfully, he had always wanted to see his dad again. But he'd left. Obviously he wasn't wanted in his life.

His mom nodded. "That's okay. You don't have to, and nobody's saying you have to."

"But?"

"But he'll be staying for a while, I'm afraid," she told him.

"Like... a few days, a while? Or a few weeks?"

His mom picked at the frosting of her own cupcake, but she didn't eat it, like this conversation had made her lose her appetite. She wiped her fingers on her apron. "Do you remember me telling you about your father's position on the council?"

Vaguely, Percy could picture his mom telling him about the time his father had been the leader of the city council – sharing the job with Nico di Angelo's father and Percy's uncle, a guy so terrifying he made Ms. Dodds look like a newborn puppy. Subsequently, his uncle had an equally scary daughter Thalia Grace, who, surprisingly similar to her dad, hated Percy.

And she was best friends with Annabeth – go figure.

Annabeth had told him this one lesson. She'd had a picture of a blond dude, a younger Thalia and herself pasted inside the front cover of her planner (next to a bunch of buildings and bridges Percy couldn't ever name). Percy recognised Thalia, and a surprised Annabeth had said that they were friends.

Now it was clear. Annabeth probably hated him because his cousin Thalia had told her to stay away from him.

The thought hurt him a little.

"Percy?"

"Uh, yeah," he said, answering his mom. "But what's that got to do with anything?"

"Well, that crumbled, obviously," she said, referring to his father working on the council. It had, but all Percy knew was that somebody had taken over, and a lot of people didn't like him. (A lot of people didn't like Percy's dad or his partners either, but apparently enough people did to support them.)

"And dad is back because..." He paused. It took him a minute to understand, as usual. "Because he's planning on running for mayor. Isn't he?" He'd heard about the upcoming elections through Annabeth, and it wouldn't surprise him.

His mom nodded slowly, tentatively, as though this should anger Percy. But he was just confused. So he'd have to be closer to his dad – that both sucked and was great – but he didn't understand why this was such terrible information. Why this whole thing was terrible.

"Percy, what you must understand is that a lot of things went wrong when your father worked on the council. A lot of people... disagreed with what he was saying. Granted, they disagreed with his partners, too – but there were a lot of arguments and fights and things going wrong."

"Which is why it all went to sand," he suggested.

"Perseus," his mom said.

Percy raised his hands. "Sorry. I just don't get it."

"A lot of people are coming back in time for the start of the next election," she said. She produced a newspaper from the side, which he hadn't noticed before. Probably because he avoiding reading, especially things so complex. He'd leave that to Annabeth and adults. "A lot of people who... some who disagreed with your father, some who agreed, and some who were neutral. But this time, your father is campaigning alone."

The front of the newspaper showed his father – who hadn't changed at all, except the fact he was wearing a suit and had trimmed his beard – and two other pictures of his uncle, and of Nico's dad. The two men appeared to be staring him down, like they could see him and wanted nothing more than to end his existence. His dad looked quite chill.

He couldn't read the headline. His mom flicked the newspaper back to a fold and sat it down on the breakfast bar, where Percy rest his feet. He stuffed his hands in his gray hoodie's pockets, and shrugged.

"I don't want this to have a negative impact on your life," his mom said.

Percy waited a few minutes before picking up his cupcake and taking a huge bite. He thought as he chewed; then he said, "As long as he sticks to his election office and stays far from me, it's no biggie."

His mom laughed softly. Then she hit his knee with a dishcloth. "What am I going to do with you?" She sighed, but she was smiling.

Percy grinned. And as long as his dad stayed away from his mom, everything would be fine.

...

No matter how hard he tried, Percy never managed to fit his skateboard inside his locker – it always interfered with his school books. Or rather, his school books interfered with his skateboard. He grunted and moaned as he tried to push it inside, making a mess of the books and pads sitting casually at the bottom of his locker – and then somebody tapped his shoulder.

"Can I talk to you?"

He dropped the skateboard on his foot.

Annabeth bent down and picked it up. "Idiot," she said, but it was less venomous than offhand. Percy took it from her and thanked her in a mutter; she shrugged her shoulders.

Percy had forgotten how intense Annabeth's eyes were – but he'd also forgotten how beautiful she was. Which was weird, because he had spent a lot of time with her up until she randomly decided she hated him again. He'd also forgotten how much it hurt when she stopped talking to him and how he'd actually missed her a lot over the past week and a half. It felt like much, much longer, which sucked – a lot.

"Um, okay," Percy said. "As long as you're finally going to tell me what I've done wrong."

Annabeth's face was a picture. Then it seemed to sink in. "Oh."

"Yeah."

Annabeth sighed. "You don't get it. You haven't done anything wrong. It's..."

"Complicated?" Percy guessed.

Annabeth glanced around her like she was afraid she was being watched. Then she said, "More stupid than complicated." A pause. "We're not supposed to be friends, Percy."

"Oh?"

"When Mr Brunner told me I had to tutor you, I panicked. I thought it would be okay. But then... my mom found out."

Percy waited, but Annabeth didn't explain. So that was it? Annabeth's mom must have been a pretty terrifying woman. "And she doesn't like me," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Well, your dad," Annabeth told him.

Percy didn't understand.

"I was surprised you didn't already know," Annabeth continued. "It was a pretty big story. The grand rivalry."

"Oh, yeah," Percy said.

"You don't get a word I'm saying, do you?"

"Not really," he admitted.

Annabeth smiled. "I didn't either for a long while. All I knew is that we weren't supposed to get along. I accepted it. Until I met you and properly got to know you and..."

"And what?"

"And you're my friend, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "My mom hates it, but I don't care. I _like_ being your friend."

A warm feeling enveloped Percy, all the ominous leaving. He smiled. "Jeez, Annabeth."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up. I'd still kick your butt. Speaking of that, how's being tutored by Malcolm?"

Percy didn't want to beg, but he would come pretty close if he needed to. Annabeth seemed to sense the shift in his attitude, and she laughed.

"I'm not surprised," she said. "Tell you what; I'll meet you tomorrow in the courtyard, same time?"

Percy could understand why she didn't want to come over to his anymore. At the same time, he was glad she didn't. He didn't have to clean his room and put on a good show and plead with his mom to not whip out the baby pictures to embarrass him. The courtyard, though busy, was their next best thing – he wouldn't even dare ask to go to Annabeth's house.

"You're on," he said.

Annabeth smiled. "And Percy?"

"Uh-huh?"

Annabeth reached behind him and pulled something off his back. In Piper's familiar scrawl, KICK ME was written on a piece of pink-tinted lined paper.

Percy groaned. Not again.

Annabeth stuffed it in his pocket, let out a small laugh (which made Percy smile despite himself), and raised her hand. "See you, Seaweed Brain."

She left. Percy shook his head, laughing. He'd grown used to that nickname – and at least she wasn't using it to tease him anymore. At least, not in a cruel way. It felt good being friends with Annabeth again. He felt like a weight had been removed off his shoulders.

The bell rung and he shut his locker, carrying his skateboard with him. His friends waited for him at the end of the hallway. He walked down to meet them, and he was so happy, he didn't even care what they had to say anymore.

**A/N **I'm not fully happy with how this chapter came out and there was an extreme lack of Percabeth which I apologise for. Every time I rewrote it, it just got messier, so eventually I just decided to leave it. Whatever – I hope you enjoyed it!

(also I have plans for Annabeth's chapter which I'm way too excited about. Like, I've started writing it already. Whoops.)


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Everything's Better In Secret**

"And in less than no time, the Argo 2 will be a-sailing! Woo!"

Nico watched Leo with a small smirk; he had his head rest on his hand, and for the past ten minutes, he'd watched Leo while he was explaining enthusiastically how everything on their ship worked. Not that Nico had taken any of it in. He didn't really understand anything his friend said when he escaped into his special world of his own, but he pretended to, because it made Leo happy.

"And Little Leo and Nico will sit here."

Nico passed Leo the two little dragons, rolling his eyes playfully. Festus – aka Little Leo – was golden with red eyes, and Nico's dragon (because Leo hadn't named him yet) was black with red eyes. Nico hadn't wanted to put them on, because it was way too embarrassing and childish, but Leo had convinced him with a kiss.

The thought made Nico straighten. He hoped Leo didn't turn around and see him blushing.

Truthfully, they were just two friends who sometimes happened to kiss each other – and it was usually something to do with wanting something in return. At least, that's what it felt like. And that was fine with Nico – as long as Leo didn't tell anybody, or complicate things. He liked it how it was. Uncomplicated. Simple.

It wasn't like it meant anything anyway.

"Nico?" Leo asked.

"Yeah?" Nico said, pulled out of his thoughts.

Leo smiled, leaned over the table, and kissed him.

Nico had never kissed anybody before Leo. Honestly, he hadn't _wanted_ to kiss anybody before. As soon as _those_ sorts of feelings starting coming, he'd met Percy Jackson. A lot of things had happened since then. Nico had changed. He supposed his feelings had changed too. He hadn't thought about kissing or relationships or boys since then – and he especially hadn't thought he'd have his first kiss with a guy he barely tolerated two and a half months ago.

His head teemed with thoughts about Leo, and about the uncomfortable feelings he was trying to keep pushed down. Apparently he thought kissing the guy who was (involuntarily) causing him the discomfort was the best way to get over it.

Nico pulled back just as he thought his head might explode. All of a sudden he felt mildly sick.

Leo stared at him. In a small, timid voice, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I – what are we doing?" Nico tugged at his collar and the hem of his t-shirt. Since when had the garage been so hot? He felt like he might pass out if he stayed.

Leo looked like he was contemplating what Nico was asking him. His mouth opened a few times, always about to say something, but he stopped himself immediately each time. If he came out with a stupid joke or pun, Nico would kick him.

Finally Leo said, slowly, "We're... working on the ship? Or we were."

Nico's face scrunched into a scowl. Leo could be so dense sometimes. "I – I just remembered my dad wanted to see me. I'm late."

"Oh, okay," Leo said.

"See you tomorrow?"

Leo smiled. "Sure. You want to hang out?"

"I'm not skipping class with you," Nico snapped.

"I'm pretty sure we don't have class on Saturday. But by all means, go to school. That'd be funny."

Nico groaned, if for nothing than because of how uncomfortable he felt. Leo looked sorely confused, as though he felt like he'd done something wrong but couldn't place it.

"So am I seeing you tomorrow or not?" Leo called as Nico rushed past him, whipping up his school bag and punching the button which opened the garage door (which he insisted keeping closed in case anybody they knew walked past).

Nico squirmed impatiently. The garage door pulled open and he ran through the gap, ignoring Leo as he shouted after him things like, "What the hell?"

He ran past the fields, horrible memories swirling around him. But something else too, like a bubble of unspoken feelings threatening him. He wished Bianca were there. Running past the fields, seeing the top of the hill although not much further like the beyond was purposely concealed from his view – oh, he so wished Bianca were there.

...

Contrary to what people (namely Hazel) thought, Nico didn't really care for Halloween. He may have looked the part of a ghost, but he didn't play it well. Throughout his life, he'd only ever celebrated it once, and that was with Bianca. She'd taken him trick-or-treating one time, and then they'd sat up all night watching movies beyond their years and snacking on colourful candy, because their mother was still alive and they were still happy.

Nico tried to push aside thoughts of his mother and Bianca. He didn't really like thinking about them. But the picture he kept in his locker of his family (minus his father) didn't help things. Still, he couldn't bring himself to remove it. They looked so happy, and it was the only picture of the three of them together he had that wasn't charred.

"Knock knock," Leo said, appearing behind him.

Nico slammed his locker shut. "I'm not answering that."

"Bore," Leo said. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I'm not stopping you," Nico said, although he was tentative, wary. They hadn't spoken about the kiss – the _kisses_, but with loudmouth Leo, Nico wouldn't be surprised if that was what he wanted to talk about – and if he told other people.

Or if he already had.

A horrible sensation flooded him, overwhelming him with the very feelings he kept trying to demolish.

He stared at Leo pointedly, waiting for him to say something about it. Waiting for him to make a stupid remark – like saying he shouldn't have kissed him, or saying he regretted it, or shutting him down because he wasn't the_ same _as Nico... he wasn't...

"Nico?" Leo snapped his fingers. "Hello?"

Nico shifted his weight on his feet. "What?"

"I asked if you were coming to Percy's pool party next week," he said.

Nico didn't know what he hated more – thinking about Bianca, or thinking about Percy Jackson. He knew Leo was friends with him, but he also knew that Leo was smart enough not to run his mouth about him either. He'd seem to sense that Nico didn't like to talk about it. Anyway, he wasn't the hero worship type of guy, unlike how Nico used to be when he was younger – embarrassingly.

"I wasn't invited," Nico said about the party.

"Uh, yeah you were," Leo said. "I invited you."

Nico frowned. "Isn't that Percy's job?"

"Nah," he said dismissively. "It's not, like, a party at his house. Look, are you coming or not? I'd like you to, for the record," he added.

Nico watched him and waited for him to make a joke. He wouldn't put it past him. But Leo didn't say anything else, just patiently waited for Nico to answer – but Nico didn't know what to say. He wanted to go, because he didn't want to let Leo down for some reason. But how could he face Percy again? Especially since, in the almost three months he'd been back, Percy hadn't tried to say anything to him, not in the midst of their fathers' returning or the new elections or any time they accidentally bumped into each other in the hallways, outside Leo's garage, or elsewhere.

"Well?" Leo said.

"You're so impatient," Nico reprimanded.

"I'll take that as a no."

Nico wanted to go – he really did. But he thought it best if he didn't. Anyway, he highly doubted Percy wanted to see him again. Otherwise, wouldn't he have spoken to him? Not that Nico wanted that or anything.

While he evaluated this, Leo was looking at the floor. Nico wondered what he was thinking.

"Nico?"

"Sorry," Nico said.

"No, it's okay," Leo assured him and then scratched the back of his neck. "Actually, it's just... Well, Percy wanted to know if you were coming. He saw that we'd gotten... er, close, and he asked me to ask you."

"Close?" Nico's voice was quieter than he thought possible. "How so?"

Leo paled, but his eyes were still determined. "Since Piper has started seeing Jason, you've kinda become, like, my best friend, I guess." _And Percy picked up on that, _Nico assumed was the next sentence.

He let out a deep breath. Of course that was all Percy meant. Nothing to worry about.

"Isn't it too cold for a pool party?" he mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"You're always cold," Leo said, rolling his eyes. But his demeanour had brightened. "I'll meet you outside of" – he glanced around him like he was afraid somebody would be watching, kind of like how Nico acted all the time with him. "I'll just text you okay?"

He stepped forward. For a horrifying second, Nico thought Leo was going to kiss him in front of all those people. Instead, he settled for an awkward smile.

"Okay," Nico said, his voice quieter than he would have liked. "Sounds perfect."

...

"You could be the tinman," Leo said. "And I'm the lion. Makes total sense."

Nico kicked a pebble in Leo's direction and shrugged his shoulders. "The tinman to your lion." He shook his head. "I'm not dressing up with you, Leo."

"Go as a creepy ghost then," Leo said.

Nico kicked a rock. "Shut up."

Since they were walking in the city central and had passed multiple stores with Halloween decorations, Leo wouldn't shut up about the holiday. He was going to Percy's house, but they were all still dressing up. Leo insisted Nico join him – which Nico had adamantly refused. The pool party was bad enough.

Nico knew Annabeth Chase and Jason Grace were going. He didn't know how they got mixed in with Percy, but he wished them luck.

Nico and Leo turned around a corner – and immediately Nico stopped in his tracks. What he saw made him turn around swiftly and conceal himself in a shadowed alleyway.

He heard Leo grunt and follow him. "Thanks, man. Thanks a lot." He appeared, flushing, and said, "I was talking to myself."

He saw Nico and stopped. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Yeah. It's just..." Percy Jackson's dad. The Olympic gold medallist who was going against his father in the next election. His father hated him – and had told Nico sternly to _stay away_. Not just from him: from his son too.

Leo poked his head around the corner and stayed like that for a little while. When he appeared, he looked confused; his eyebrows were knit together and he was frowning. "Percy's dad. What's he doing back? Oh... Mayor Elections..."

Nico cocked his head to one side. How did Leo know?

Oh. Of course. Leo's dad was probably there too – no doubt on Percy's dad's side as opposed to Nico's dad's. Whatever. It didn't surprise him. Everybody hated his dad. In turn, everybody hated him.

"Come on," Leo said, turning to Nico. "It's safe. He won't... lecture you about his campaign, or anything."

They walked out of the alley. And almost bumped into Piper McLean.

Why she was standing near an alley, Nico didn't know. (He later found out she had seen Leo go in. Not Nico; he was too quick. But Leo was incredibly nosey, and had poked his head out to see Percy's dad. Idiot.) She smiled innocently at them.

Nico didn't like her much. Her eyes – they were pretty and because of all the colours, slightly mesmerising. But she was shady too. Her colourful eyes made Nico uncomfortable, because they looked like they held all his secrets.

That would be _traumatic_.

Leo had assured him yesterday – through soft kisses as they put the finishing touches on the Argo II – that Piper didn't know. He'd said it in a whisper so Nico had pretended not to hear him, _like he cared_, but it still rushed him with relief that Leo hadn't run his mouth for once.

Piper and Leo engaged in an animated conversation. Nico heard parts. Jason was inside, because something on the front of the newspaper had intrigued him and he'd had to buy it. As the two best friends spoke, Nico turned to look at the newspaper.

As usual, Nico's dad graced the cover – then his two ex-partners. Percy's dad, of course, with his hard, kind eyes and his thin, proud smile. Thalia Grace's dad, who was a terrifyingly powerful, rich man. He wouldn't win any points for likeability.

Neither would his father. The most likeable man was easily Percy's dad, who's eyes promised everything good and more to the citizens of the city. The others looked straight to business and ready to rid anybody who doubted their power. Still, weirder things had happened than one of the two getting elected. If history repeated itself...

Leo turned to Nico. "Is that...?"

"Dad," Nico said.

Leo and Piper shared a look.

Nico caught it in the window reflection. He turned around. "What?"

Leo shook his head. "Nothing. He's my favourite."

Nico rolled his eyes and turned around. He studied the picture for a minute and then turned away just as Jason walked out of the shop carrying a few newspapers.

"Enough?" Piper teased.

Jason looked up. He noticed Piper and Leo first, and smiled at his new friend and his sorta-girlfriend. Then he looked at Nico... and his smile dimmed. Nico remained straight-faced, even as the wind blew a leaf at Leo's face and he cursed it.

Jason regained composure. "Hey, Nico. How are you?"

Piper looked at Leo again, who looked at Jason with his eyebrows raised, like he was thinking, Since when did Jason talk to Nico di Angelo?

That was nothing to do with him. Nico wouldn't allow them anything; he pretended Jason was a stranger – which was a complete lie. Jason looked down as the tension increased. He turned to Leo and said a levelled goodbye, saying that he and Piper had a date to get to.

As they left, Leo rolled his eyes hard. Going to Nico's side, he clutched his hand. "_Got a date to get to. Come on, sweetheart. Don't want to be late for our picnic_," he said in a pretty good imitation of Jason's voice – although Nico highly doubted Jason would say anything like that.

A gust of freezing wind blew past and reminded Nico that his hand was suddenly hot and clammy. He glanced down. Leo was still holding his hand.

Nico pulled it back with a force so hard, Leo said, "Ow!" He rubbed his palm, even though Nico knew it didn't really hurt.

"Don't do that again," Nico said. His voice was low and quiet.

Leo blinked. "I was being Jason. You were... you were my Piper. Sorry."

Nico hid his hands in his aviator jacket's pockets. He hoped nobody saw – especially not Piper. "Come on. We have to finish the Argo 2 before tomorrow."

He walked away and waited for Leo to follow.

It took a minute, but eventually he heard the boisterous boy's footsteps and he blew out the air he held in his cheeks. He was just fooling himself.

He had nothing to worry about.

**AN **This chapter was SO stupid and I'm sorry because I took a loooooong time to update.

But

do you know

how hard

it is

to write

after a kiss?

/sigh. I've already written the majority of the next chapter. It should be up some time this weekend.

(P.S. Thank you all SO much for the reviews. I love you. Seriously. You're AWESOME. :D)


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Disaster Party**

Since her mother's visit, Annabeth had spent every waking minute trying to avoid Percy, much like she had when she was a freshman. Of course, it hadn't worked – because he was Percy Jackson, and he was impossible to stay away from.

He was also just plain impossible. Impossible, annoying, irritating, frustrating – but Annabeth had to admit, it felt good speaking to him again. Ignoring, avoiding him – that had been too much hard work. And she wanted to tutor him again, if anything to prove how she could turn him around.

It was Friday lunchtime when Annabeth figured something was going on. She was excellent at reading people and working out puzzles – and Percy was pretty much a human enigma today.

Each second he would sneak a glance inside the school as though he were looking out for someone. Since Annabeth had banished Percy's moronic friends from sitting near them (long story), she knew he couldn't be looking at one of them while they made faces behind her back. And as well as looking devious, he looked slightly nervous.

"Alright," she said, slapping her hand down on the Latin textbook Percy was struggling to read from. "What's going on?"

Percy looked up, startled. "What? Nothing."

Annabeth poked her pencil at him. "Don't lie to me. I know that something's up."

Percy looked like he was debating whether or not to tell her what was going on. For his own sake, he'd better fess up. After a moment he sighed. "Alright. Swear you won't tell?"

Annabeth shrugged. "I swear it on the River Styx."

Percy opened and closed his mouth. His eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Forget it. Go on," she prompted.

"Okay. I don't understand that reference but okay." He inhaled a deep breath, and then said in a tremulous voice, "A few of us were planning on sneaking into the swimming hall tonight for a small get together – like, a pool party, I guess."

Annabeth waited to see if he was joking. Then, fast as lightning, she whipped up her textbook and hit him across the head. "_Are you insane_?" She struggled to keep her voice to an acceptable volume, and she didn't want to draw attention to them. "Seriously, Percy, even you're not that stupid."

She scowled at him.

Percy faltered. "It wasn't my idea! And we were just thinking. It's not like we're actually going to go through with it."

"You better not," Annabeth warned.

Percy shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something Annabeth didn't care to ask him to repeat. He was probably just complaining, because he knew she was right and his and his friends' plan was incredibly idiotic. Still, she felt bad that he'd trusted her and she'd slammed it down.

On the other hand, it was one of the stupidest things she'd ever heard – and she'd spent a lot of time with Percy. They'd never get away with it.

Percy flicked over the page and groaned at the lengthy amounts of text. He looked up at Annabeth sheepishly.

"Go on," she said. "Unless you want to get an F on your final exam."

Sighing, Percy focused back on the page and prepared to read. Annabeth smiled smugly, already forgetting all about the breaking-and-entering party plan.

...

It didn't take Percy long to (involuntarily) remind Annabeth of what an idiot he could be. A little while after they'd finished their lesson, Percy's friends ran up to them as they packed up their things. Excitably, their incoherent sentences slipped into one another's as they spoke over each other and high-fived at one another's brilliance. Annabeth rolled her eyes so hard she saw darkness.

Percy crossed his arms, his face red. He kept looking over at where Annabeth stood, giving little shy smiles.

Jake noticed this, and he stopped what he was saying immediately. "Hey, you invited your girlfriend, didn't you?"

Annabeth ignored him, but Percy adamantly abolished the idea.

"He was about to," Annabeth said, shrugging. For the first time, the boys turned their attention to her. They were all quiet now. "But you guys interrupted." She shrugged again. "Oh well."

Percy's friends turned their attention back to him. Will slapped his arm and muttered something under his breath, and Annabeth had to hide her smirk.

"Um, Annabeth," Percy started.

"Hello," she said.

"So did you want to come to the party or something?"

Annabeth crossed her arms. "What's my other option?"

"I mean, do you want to come? Like, with me, I guess." He gave her a look, like, _You're not making this easy for me_. Annabeth didn't plan to; he'd have to get used to it.

"As a date?" she questioned.

Only some of Percy's friends concealed their laughter well enough for them to have straight faces – other than small smirks and raised eyebrows at Percy. The boy in question looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there.

"It'd be a pretty bad date," Percy admitted.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. She dared him to try and get out of this.

Percy shot a glare at his friends, who regarded Annabeth now with a level of respect. Morons. Annabeth kept her eyes on Percy, who looked ready to flee.

Finally, he shrugged his shoulders. "Um, so I'll just meet you outside at, like, seven."

Annabeth punched his arm playfully. "Not picking me up from my house?"

She knew how much of a bad idea that was, especially with the latest elections and their parents being back in town. On the other hand, nothing would infuriate her mother more than if she went to the party with Percy.

"You know what," she said. "That sounds great. I'll text you."

She flipped her hair behind her shoulder and walked away, smiling as she imagined the bewildered look on Percy's face.

...

Predictably, the school stood amongst a field of other redbrick buildings in the moonlight, with nothing hinting that anything wrong was about to happen inside. The lights were switched off, save for a lambent moonlight that guided her way towards the swimming hall's back entrance. With Silena chatting excitedly beside her and with her not needing to contribute, she had time to think.

God, she couldn't believe she was being so stupid. But it was too late to back out now. Anyway, a small part of her wanted to go. It had nothing to do with seeing Percy. Maybe she just had an instinct to make sure he stayed out of trouble.

Silena clutched her hand, pulling her out of her thoughts. She relaxed the scowl on her face into a neutral expression. "Is that Charlie?"

Annabeth followed her gaze to the doors, from which she could hear happy shrieking and water splashing and people having fun. That couldn't be good. How many people had Percy invited?

"Suppose it is," she said.

Percy and Beckendorf stood next to each other and held open the door for Annabeth and Silena. Percy shivered, considering he had nothing on but a pair of swim shorts. Annabeth decided not to look at him.

Silena smiled as she sauntered through the doors. "Thanks for inviting me, Charlie."

Silena was the only person who called Beckendorf Charlie. Annabeth wondered how she got away with it, but then, she had a pretty good guess.

Even in the darkness she could see Beckendorf was blushing. "Um, you're welcome. Hey, Annabeth. Shut the door, Perce, its freezing."

He bounced into the swimming hall, following Silena. The poor guy was more socially awkward than anybody she'd ever met – maybe besides Nico di Angelo. Speaking of him, she swore she could see him through the sliver of the door sitting next to his new best friend Leo Valdez. Annabeth shook her head. Who knew how that happened?

"Hey," Percy said as she walked past him, glancing around her at everybody.

There were a lot more people than she expected. A _lot_. She saw Percy's friends and their mutual friends. Grover sat with his new girlfriend, a girl who ran the nature committee in the council, and waved at Percy and Annabeth. Leo sat at the top of the bleachers playing red hands with Nico. Annabeth really couldn't imagine how _that_ friendship had come about. Piper and Jason were playing water polo with a bunch of the swim team, and the Stolls were rooting in Katie Gardner's bag, which sat idly on the lifeguard's seat. Typical.

Despite the people she knew, there were others, too. Was that the other swim team from their rival school? Annabeth had heard all about them. Reyna used to go to their school. Apparently so did Octavian, but Annabeth didn't like to think about him much. He was probably a spy. He was crazy enough.

Percy couldn't have known many of them. Sure, there was the swim team – but the others? They were strangers.

Annabeth turned to look at Percy. Surprisingly, it seemed he had kept up with her thoughts. "The news spread," he said, raising his shoulders, like, _What can you do?_

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "You think?"

Percy didn't reply. They'd reached the bleachers where all their friends sat. Will Solace waved at Annabeth and winked at Percy, who was blushing. It made him look endearing. The worshipped Percy Jackson could get flustered. It was almost cute – but she wouldn't dare say that to him.

Grover introduced his girlfriend to them. "And that's Annabeth. She and Percy are – you know what? Never mind."

The sharp looks Percy and Annabeth had given Grover had affectively shut him up.

For the most part, the party was tame. If a little loud. Annabeth sat with Piper and Hazel and shared interests as the boys challenged one another to a game of water polo. Frank kept on muttering how it wasn't fair since Percy was practically a dolphin. Annabeth smiled. She liked Frank.

Eventually, Annabeth hit the water. Percy was still playing, introducing Jason and Frank to Will and Jake and Beckendorf, who managed to pull himself away from Silena for a second. Silena went off to reapply her makeup and talk to Drew Tanaka, who secretly rolled her eyes at Silena. Piper wrestled with Frank, who playfully dunked her under every few minutes. Hazel went over to see her brother while Leo cannonballed in the deep end.

"So what's going on with you two anyway?" Piper reappeared and shook her choppy hair so bits of water flew at Annabeth. Annabeth herself shrugged.

"Nothing," she said.

"You know you like him," Piper said.

It sounded like teasing, but Annabeth still had her guard up. After Luke... she couldn't afford to think of a guy like that. Of course Silena and Piper were the only two who knew about her crush on Percy, but it didn't mean anything.

"He's cute," Annabeth said. "How about Jason?"

Piper's eyes found Jason. Annabeth saw a blush creep up her neck as Jason got out of the pool and shook himself dry, then stretched so his athletic body was on full show. When he opened his eyes, immediately he saw Annabeth and Piper looking at him. He blushed and stammered something incoherent.

Annabeth and Piper grinned.

Another hour or so passed. Moonlight flooded into the ceiling windows and created, evidently, a perfect kissing atmosphere. Everybody who wasn't single immediately partnered up. Everybody who was single relaxed on the bleachers, chatting and snacking.

Annabeth stayed by the edge of the pool. Percy found her a few minutes later and handed her a bottle of Diet Coke. "Hey," he said. "Having fun?"

"More than I expected," she replied.

"Is that a compliment?"

Annabeth cracked a smile. "If you say so."

"I'm glad you came," he said. "I didn't think you would."

"You have little faith in me." She nudged his shoulder with hers. "We're friends, aren't we?"

Percy didn't reply. The moonlight seemed to shine down on them like a spotlight. "Yeah," he said quietly after a moment. "Friends."

Annabeth didn't know how to respond. To her right, albeit a few metres away, Piper and Jason were kissing. Leo and Nico had disappeared. Grover was playing with his girlfriend in the shallow end. Everybody seemed to be paired up – and she sat with Percy, with a moonlight spotlight and no idea what to say.

The calm silence was broken by an ear-piercing, petrified yell. Annabeth was immediately on full alert – especially since the section of the pool she was dipping her feet into had suddenly turned red.

"What happened?" she demanded, pushing past Jake Mason, who stared at the pool with a horrified expression. Thankfully, Percy had swam over to help... oh, god. It was Will.

Percy hauled Will up over the side of the pool, panting. Others had started to gather now, questioning everything. Jake had paled. When Annabeth turned Will onto his side to assess the gash on his head, Jake ran away to throw up.

"Oh my god," Piper said. Jason stood mute by her side.

Annabeth barely registered anything else as she tore off a piece of somebody's shirt that was handed to her and wrapped it around the cut. "We need an ambulance. Now."

"We need a healer!" somebody else protested from the crowd.

"Will _was_ the healer!" somebody else said.

Leo ran over. Annabeth swore she had seen him holding hands with Nico when they'd re-entered the hall, but that was beside the point. People were being too loud and some were crying and she was getting distracted.

Leo handed her some clean bottled water to pour over Will's head, which was covered in blood. She thanked him. Even though she was trained in first aid, she couldn't dress the wound herself. It was too big. But she cleaned the outside as best she could and once again yelled for somebody to call an ambulance.

"If anybody complains about being caught," she said, glaring at the crowd, "I swear to all the–"

"Annabeth," Percy said. "It's okay. Nico called the ambulance."

Her shaky hands grasped together and she stared straight ahead. Blood didn't bother her much. It was the panic surging through the crowd, the tears and the worries and the fears, that made her anxious.

People were already disappearing. Annabeth stayed, kneeling over Will. She didn't care about the others, whether or not they were going to flee as well.

Red and blue lights flashed through the door crack. She swallowed the lump in her throat.

They were screwed.

**A/N **This chapter was based on the episode of Gossip Girl in which they sneak into the school's swimming pool. So credit where credit is due!

Damn though. I love you Will.

Also, fun fact: Thalia was supposed to be in this chapter. Girl, where'd you go?

Leo (my bby) next! (Maybe soon depending on stuff because I've already written it. Excitement, okay?)


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: The Aftermath**

For a guy who wore Hawaiian shirts everyday to school, Mr D was a pretty scary guy, even if his shirt was pink today.

Leo sat next to Nico and Annabeth on the front row of the assembly hall. In his opinion, it was stupid to hold an assembly in the hall, which was grand enough for the whole school. What was the point? There were only a select number of them being called out of their lessons to be there.

Percy and Annabeth, because they'd been the brave heroes who stayed behind when everybody else ran away from the flashing red and blue lights. Jason and Piper, even though Jason looked mortified to be caught – still, he was concerned about Will, even if he'd only just befriended him. And then, awkwardly, Hazel and Frank were caught too.

Hazel was extraordinarily upset that Will was hurt. She cried onto Nico's shoulder – another strike. Nico couldn't exactly leave his sister. And Frank couldn't exactly leave his girlfriend.

And since the others couldn't exactly leave Will, Leo had been the one who was called forward to talk to the paramedic.

"I swear I don't know," he had said for the billionth time. "I think he was playing and he just... fell."

It was a bit of an understatement. Will had cracked his head open on the tiled swimming pool underneath and needed a million stitches. Leo hadn't been to see him in hospital, but Annabeth and Percy had. They explained everything. Will was doing okay now, but only after being knocked flat for twelve hours.

Leo had a headache just thinking about it.

Mr D addressed them once again with sugar-coated insults. Every few minutes he had to bite back a curse.

"What I want to know," he was saying, "was how a bunch of... _rotten_ children got a hold of a... _flipping_ key." He held up a long red lanyard that had once held a little key – the key to the swimming hall.

The key had disappeared. Supposedly, one of the eight in front of him was in possession of it.

Immediately his eyes flickered to Percy. Leo didn't think that was fair, even if it was the most obvious choice. Come to think of it... he didn't actually know himself who had the key.

He was uncharacteristically innocent.

Percy blushed, but he didn't say anything. That was their established plan: don't say anything. Not even Annabeth or Jason had ratted out whoever the culprit was. Technically speaking, they could easily get themselves out of a whole bunch of trouble simply because it was so obvious it wasn't them due to their smarts and reputation, but they didn't say anything at all.

Leo glanced at Nico. His... _friend_, or whatever he was called now, looked stone-faced at the floorboards. He'd agreed to not say anything, but Leo wondered.

He saw how Nico looked at Percy when he thought nobody else was looking. Would Nico rat Percy out if given the chance?

Annabeth tensed beside him. Mr D was looking at her with an expression Leo was certain she'd never seen directed to her before. Then he regarded Jason with the same.

Leo hoped they wouldn't crack.

Instead, Annabeth looked at the same spot as Nico. There were a set of scratches the floor made by the pulling back of chairs after assembly ended. Leo tried to focus on it too, but he couldn't. He was too ADHD. He kept tapping his knees and pushing hair behind his ears and muttering the Spanish he knew under his breath.

Mr D looked at him. Man, now he had to hope _he_ wouldn't crack.

After agonising minutes ticked by on the overhead clock, the obnoxiously public school bell rang, signalling next lesson. Leo had wood shop, which was a shame. He sat next to Nico. But Mr D didn't look like he wanted to let them go.

Excruciating lengths of quiet time passed. After a while, Leo couldn't stand it anymore. His hand shot in the air – at the same time, all eyes immediately turned to him.

Mr D jumped off the stage and walked over to him. Leo gulped. Oops.

"Confession?" Mr D said. "Leo Valdez, little... _runt_ of a boy." That was harsh. Leo didn't need his freaking _teacher_ to say that too – he'd heard it enough from the girls in his grade. "I'm honestly not surprised. Or do you have another secret to tell?"

It was Nico's turn to tense. Leo mentally shook his head – he'd convince Nico later that not every secret mentioned had to do with their fun times. He hadn't told anybody. He wouldn't (unless Nico allowed him. Doubtful). Etcetera.

"Nope," Leo said. "I was just wondering... May I use the bathroom?"

Mr D's nostrils flared like a bull. Leo really didn't like how he was under that huge nose – and could see everything inside it.

"No. No, you may not," Mr D said, sounding sorely disappointed. At least he walked away, so Leo could look up without seeing the contents of a dirty tissue.

The minutes turned to hours. Nobody raised their hand – except Frank, but when Mr D jumped down and approached him, he'd stammered that he was only stretching. Leo grinned at the flushed cheeks and sloppy apologies. Flustered Frank was the best.

Hazel gripped Frank's hand. Leo looked away.

The mock assembly only ended when their headmaster entered. Leo had met him on numerous occasions. He didn't particularly want to spend any more time with him – especially since for the first time in the history of Leodom, he was innocent.

Their headmaster looked at each of them individually. If he was thinking of brutal punishments, like spending two months in afterschool detention with Ms. Dodds, his face didn't show it. His face didn't show anything, actually. No disappointment or anger or upset. Although Leo thought it must be hard to keep a straight face – they all looked hilariously exhausted. He didn't know about the others, but he had gotten hardly any sleep since last night.

Annabeth hadn't brushed her hair, which wasn't unusual, but it was more noticeable today. Percy's school shirt was crumpled. Jason's usually short soldier hair had started to grow out, and it was mussed like a serious bedhead. Frank's sweatshirt was inside out. Hazel was still wearing Nico's aviator jacket. Leo doubted she'd taken it off since last night.

As for Nico, he was almost as outwardly unaffected as the headmaster. If he was sad, he didn't show it. Angry? No sign. Leo wished he'd at least make some gesture. He was staring to worry that Medusa had paid a visit and had turned his friend into a statue.

The headmaster cleared his throat. The eight were suddenly on full alert. "Of course, we can no longer keep you from today's lessons."

Bummer, Leo thought.

"We will, however, request individual meetings with each of you over the course of the afternoon." He had a determined look that reminded Leo of the time years ago when his mother had gotten into a fight with the landlord of their apartment block. "We will get down to the bottom of this. And if nobody is willing to admit they are behind this, each and every one of you will be suspended – effective immediately. You have until the end of the day to come forward."

Leo waited. The room was eerily silent, like nobody was even breathing. He wasn't. He didn't think Annabeth or Nico were either.

"You are dismissed," the headmaster said.

The eight filed out of the room in keeping with the deafening silence. Leo caught Mr D looking at him and almost wanted to wave goodbye, but it seemed a little inappropriate even for him. As soon as they hit the courtyard, Hazel stomped over to the middle, turned to face them and crossed her arms.

"I am _not_ getting suspended."

"None of us want to get suspended, Hazel," Percy said, sticking his hands into his pockets.

Hazel shrugged heavily. The aviator jacket seemed to be weighing her down. "You didn't hear what my father said last night and..." She hesitated. Her eyes latched on to Nico, and something in his expression changed her mind. She turned back to Percy and in a quieter, reserved tone, she said, "I _can't_ be suspended."

Annabeth and Jason shared a look.

Frank awkwardly wrapped an arm around Hazel. "Look, we didn't want to go to the party. We didn't ask for this. Whoever stole the key, just come forward so that we can sort this out."

"Dang, Zhang," Leo said. "You're breaking the rule of conduct. What happened to keeping quiet?"

Frank glared at him. "So it was you!"

"No!"

Hazel put a hand on Frank's chest while Annabeth gave Leo a look, like, _Not now_.

"Nobody is going to tell anything," Annabeth said, which made everybody shut up and turn to look at her wondering if she'd lost her mind. She shrugged. "We can argue our rights. They have no proof any of us stole the key. Therefore we can speak with the board. Detentions, sure. But none of us deserve to be suspended. Anyway, I'm sure I read somewhere that it's against the..." She broke off into thought.

"I can't be suspended either," Jason said quietly. He clutched Piper's hand more tightly. "This will go on my record. My _permanent_ record. I'll be kicked off the council. How will I run for class president next year? Reyna is going to kill me."

Piper removed her hand and fiddled with the feather in her hair, like she always did when she got agitate. "Maybe my dad can settle this. I mean, he's paying for Will's hospital bills."

"Oh, great," Leo said. "Let's bribe our way out of this. That can't go wrong."

Piper shot him down with a harsh look. "I don't see you coming up with anything better."

Leo shrugged. "I say we keep our mouths shut and don't say anything. Annabeth's right – they can't suspend us if we have no proof. Anyway, Will's mom owes us. We practically kept him alive while everybody else fled."

"Leo, this has nothing to do with Will's family," Jason said. "I can't imagine how they feel."

Leo raised his hands. "I'm sure the school wants justice for the fallen golden boy. Kicking us out will give them exactly that."

Everybody stayed quiet. Annabeth was still deep in thought; Percy played with the ties on his hoodie; Frank and Hazel stared frustrated at the ground. Jason and Piper looked at Leo, as though debating what he was saying in their brains.

It was Nico who held Leo's attention for the longest. What Hazel had said about their father replayed in his mind. What _had_ their dad said to them? Was that why Nico was being even quieter than usual?

Annabeth glanced at her watch, shaking her head of thought. "It's almost time for lunch. We shouldn't bother going to fourth period."

"Wasn't planning on it," Leo said.

Hazel groaned. "Great. We're going to be stared at like freaks."

Nobody disputed that, not even to make Hazel feel a little better. Everybody would stare at them. Leo didn't have an account anywhere important, but he'd heard Will's accident had spread like wildfire on social networks. Everybody was talking about it. Leo had to drink it in. This would be the only time people cared about him long enough to talk about him.

"I'll do it."

The voice startled him, even though he'd been hearing it almost everyday for three months now. Everybody else jumped too, like they hadn't expected it. Heck, Leo hadn't expected it, and he was standing right beside him.

He turned to Nico. "Come again?"

Nico looked up. "I'll do it. I'll say it was me."

"What?" Percy said. "Why?"

Nico didn't look at Percy. He looked at Leo.

Leo didn't understand why either. Did Nico want to be suspended – possibly permanently? That wasn't fair. Leo had dragged him to the party, and now Nico was in trouble. If anything, Nico should be excused.

"You don't have to do that," Annabeth said.

"You all have important things and reasons why you shouldn't be suspended," Nico said reasonably. But Leo thought he was being anything but reasonable. "I don't. My dad will just send me to another school somewhere. I won't be kicked off the swim team or the council or be looked at like any more of a freak than I usually am."

His mouth twisted when he said the last part. Darkness seemed to radiate off him, which Leo had noticed happened a lot. If he wasn't so close to him, he'd probably be scared out of his mind right about now.

"Nico," Hazel started, but Nico raised his hand.

"Just go to lunch. It's okay. You can't afford to be suspended."

A look of understanding crossed between. But Leo didn't understand – and he hated not understanding. Absentmindedly, he pulled out some wires from his pocket and fiddled with them. Annabeth looked at Percy, who was staring at Nico. Jason blinked a few times. Leo felt the discomfort in masses.

The bell rang for lunchtime. Nobody moved.

"Please." Nico's voice went ghostly quiet. Leo shuddered. Dang, he could be freaky when he wanted. "Just go. I'll sort it."

Reluctantly, everybody started to leave. Hazel kissed Nico's cheek and hugged him tightly. Frank went to pat his back, but decided against it and walked away with Hazel. Jason and Piper kissed quickly, and then they left in opposite directions. Percy was the last to leave. Even when Annabeth left to go to a lesson, Percy stayed.

"Thank you," Percy said.

Nico stared at his shoes. "I said its fine."

Percy looked at Leo, who refused to leave. Then he looked back at Nico.

Something had happened between them, Leo guessed. Something serious. Nico was a liar; of course he knew Percy Jackson. Everybody did, but that wasn't the point. He knew him in a different way. A deep way. Perhaps a way Leo would never understand.

"I mean for everything," Percy said.

Nico looked at him for the first time, and Leo felt like he was intruding on something private. The thought made him feel a little dizzy, and he had to turn away.

Percy waited for a little while before turning to Leo. He looked at him in a way he'd never done before. When he looked back at Nico, his eyes flickered, as though he was trying to figure something out.

Leo hoped he wasn't blushing. Percy wasn't the most perceptive guy – which was a colossal understatement – but he was still worried. What if Nico thought he'd told Percy about them? Leo would fear for his life.

Percy said goodbye to Leo and Nico and then left after what felt like a hundred years. Leo blew air out from his cheeks. "Dang. He just didn't want to go away."

Nico stormed off. Well, that was rude.

Leo followed him. He figured that he'd regret it if he didn't talk to Nico now. Come to think of it, he might not get the chance ever again. Just from pictures of his father in recent newspapers Leo knew he was a scary dude, and he'd probably ship Nico back to Italy or something if he got suspended. At least, that was how Nico acted. Like his father was the god of malice.

"Hey, wait up!" Leo jogged to keep up with Nico. He was already getting out of breath, and they'd barely reached the stairwell at the end of the hall.

As Hazel predicted, everybody stared at them. People whispered. Probably because they'd broke into the school at night time, threw a party, and now somebody was in hospital because they were careless, reckless teenagers.

But Leo couldn't be sure.

Nico rounded the corner and went into the stairwell. When he'd run up about eight steps, looked up to make sure nobody was on the top, he finally looked at Leo.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

"Um, I don't know, maybe to _talk_ to you?" Leo raised his eyebrows. "For once."

Nico looked up again. Leo heard some girls chatting, but they passed by the stairwell door and didn't come in. They were alone – how Nico preferred. Though he bet Nico wanted to be anywhere but with him at that moment.

"Okay," Nico said.

"Okay?"

Nico blinked. "Talk."

"Talk..." Leo shook his head. "Alright. How about this, what's going on with your dad? I mean, he comes out of hiding and runs for mayor and you become even more closed in. What's up with that?"

"What's up with that," Nico repeated. A pause. "Some of the opponents... they were teasing my dad. About me. They were teasing him about..."

"That thing that we never talk about," Leo finished.

Nico looked at him. "I didn't tell anybody."

"Well, neither did I!" Leo said. He hated feeling like he had to defend himself, especially when he hadn't done anything wrong. Today was a sucky day.

"Somebody did!" Nico opened his mouth to say something else, and then stopped. Somebody opened the door at the top of the stairwell and walked down. Nico let them pass; they looked at him with their nose scrunched up. They didn't even look at Leo.

_Or be looked at like any more of a freak than I usually am_, Nico had said.

Finally Leo understood.

He took a step forward, but Nico repelled and walked up a few more steps. He never took his eyes away from Leo's.

"You held my hand last week," Nico said. "One of my dad's team saw. My dad told us... Hazel and me... to avoid any more trouble or controversy. He didn't say anything about... about..." His voice cracked.

Leo stared at him. "That's why Hazel is being shifty?" he guessed. "Why she can't get suspended?"

"My dad has enough money to pay this away," Nico said, like he knew what Leo was about to say. _Doesn't that mean you can't get suspended either?_ "Sometimes I think he'd rather me be elsewhere. It's not like he likes me. He prefers Hazel."

"He does," Leo said immediately. He knew what it was like to have a dad who hated him. A dad who was absent all the time. Of course, his dad blamed it on the fact he got anxious around people, like he had major social anxiety. But Leo didn't care. "He _does_ like you."

Nico laughed with humour. "You don't know him."

"Why else would he put up with you?"

Nico smiled, but his eyes were sad. "Because I look like her."

"Who?" Leo asked.

"My mother."

...

When Leo was called out of his literature class to see the headmaster, he knew exactly what he was going to say. Nico hadn't been yet. Over lunchtime, Percy and Annabeth had been spoken to, but Leo hadn't seen them afterwards to see if they'd kept their side of the deal. For all Leo knew, they could have devised a plan to have him arrested. Like, he'd go in and his deadbeat father would be shaking his head while a bunch of cops told him, "You're going down."

"Leo Valdez," the head's secretary said.

She buzzed the head's door open. Leo stood up and walked in, open to the familiarities. There were no cops or his dad – thankfully – but just the head, sitting at his mahogany desk, hands clasped together. Leo sat down opposite him.

"Mr Valdez," the head said. "What a surprise."

"Did you miss me?" Leo asked.

"Barely," he responded. "I trust you know why you're here."

"Yeah," Leo said. "About that."

"Ah, ah, ah." The head raised his hand. He was oddly calm. "Please. Start from the beginning. Things will be a lot easier if I understand where it all started."

So Leo jumped into a lengthy, detailed account, adding in a few extra titbits for good measure. "Although," he said, halfway through, "I think, after this, you should invest in some better security, like, maybe a guard or two. Anyway..."

The headmaster listened patiently. At times, he nodded his head, like he'd already heard that part. Leo found himself wondering what Percy and Annabeth had actually said. He wanted to know what the others would say, especially Jason. That would be a sight. He'd probably beg or offer to do community service for, like, two years.

When Leo finished, he leant back in his chair. "And that is why I stole the key."

For a minute, the head didn't say anything. He was finishing jotting down Leo's tale. As Leo waited, he flicked back to the page before that one, read over it, and then went back to Leo's. Leo watched him do that for a little while. Then the head looked up.

"Funny you should say that," he said. "Because that's exactly what your friends Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase said."

Leo felt his face fall. His whole body slumped down in the leather chair he was too small for as realisation hit him. Percy was putting his loyalty to the test, while Annabeth... Eh, Leo couldn't determine that one. Or maybe she knew the plan. Maybe she knew what Percy and apparently Leo were going to do – even before they knew it themselves.

Was _everybody_ going to fess up?

God, Leo thought he was being the brave one. He was only making sure Nico didn't get in trouble.

"I believed Percy," the head said. He stroked his beard and looked at Leo, who was tapping his knee so hard it started to hurt. He wished he had something to build, but Ms. Dodds had taken his tool belt from him because she was evil – and it wasn't a part of the official school uniform. Whatever.

"It didn't surprise me. And then Ms. Chase came in. She made it believable. More believable than Percy, now that I think of it. There's only one problem: it was so utterly unbelievable, that I thought she was pranking me. That's where you come in to this."

He stood up. Leo watched him move to the window. "This isn't simply a prank, Valdez. I hope you realise how serious this is."

Nico, Leo thought.

"Am I correct in thinking that your father is on the council?"

"Uh," Leo said.

The head nodded. "Do you realise what this would do to his campaign?"

"He's not running for mayor, sir," Leo said. Or he was. Leo didn't really care. (Although he knew. He knew deep down that his father was just a lowly supporter – he thought it might be for Percy's dad, but it would be cool if it were for Nico's.)

"That would be Jason's father – right?"

Leo nodded. For the first time since they became friends, Leo felt sorry for Jason. If this got out, Jason would have put a big damper on his dad's campaign. And his dad was not an easily forgiving guy.

"Percy Jackson's," the head continued.

"Uh-huh." He liked Percy's dad. Well, as much as you like politicians.

The head looked right at him. "And Nico di Angelo's."

Leo felt heat rise on his cheeks. "Yeah," he said. "Cool guy."

"I suppose it would affect them more," the head said. "More than you."

"I suppose it would," Leo said.

He was dismissed shortly afterwards. When he went out of the room, the sight of Jason sitting on the brown leather waiting seats made him hate the fact the head had chaperoned him to the door. Otherwise he would have told Jason not to do exactly what Leo knew he was going to: admit to stealing the key.

Jason, Leo thought, hoping he could read minds. Don't be a hero – or an idiot.

Jason stood up. He smiled at Leo thinly, and then he turned to the head. "Mr..."

"Come inside, Grace," the head said, eyeing Leo. "We have a lot to talk about."

...

Leo was at his lockers at the end of the day when Nico found him. In his defence, he had looked for him after his meeting with the head. But Piper had begged him to leave school with her. She was being cagey, but Leo didn't mind missing a lesson to hang out with his friend for a little while. Even if he couldn't stop thinking about Nico.

"You absolute moron," Nico said, clenching his fists.

Leo slipped his army jacket on. "I missed you too."

Nico shot insults at him, face completely red, fists in balls by his hands. Leo was impressed at the range of his vocabulary.

"Why couldn't you just let me handle it?" Nico demanded.

"Hey, I wasn't the only one," Leo said. "Percy and Annabeth did it too."

"And Jason," Nico said. "Frank, Hazel and Piper were the only ones who didn't – but they're still in trouble, because you couldn't keep your mouths shut."

Piper? That was surprising. Leo shook his head.

"I didn't know anybody else would!" Leo said defensively – again. God, he hated defending himself. Especially against Nico. "I was trying to help you."

"You – _ugh_."

"Yeah," Leo said. "So can we talk now?"

Nico's anger had been replaced with wariness. His lips tugged downwards. "What do you want to talk about?" he asked quietly.

Leo paused. "The thing... you know, that we never talk about."

"What about it?" Nico asked quickly.

"What is it?" Leo leant against the lockers. Clarisse La Rue was standing at the end of the hall, one of the last students to still be there. Leo was worried she'd see him and beat him up. He knew Will's father and her's were friends. At the very least, they worked together. Leo thought she might blame him for Will getting injured and give him a thorough clean in a toilet bowl, like she did to most kids who got in her way or hurt her friends or breathed same air as she.

Nico scowled. "What do you mean?"

Leo watched Clarisse leave. She didn't even look at him, so he didn't have to explain any more bruises to his social worker at their next meeting. It was hard enough lying to her about his living conditions.

"It's all just really confusing for me," he said eventually.

For a second, Nico's eyes widened, like that shocked him. What, wasn't he confused? Then his face levelled out into one of his favourite expressions. "Look, it's not like it means anything, right?"

Leo stared at him, even though the glare was making him uncomfortable. "Really?" That hurt. He hadn't realised he meant so little to Nico. Actually, during the party, when they'd spent so much time sneaking around and kissing and holding hands and sharing interests – god, Leo could be so naive.

He knew deep down Nico hated him. At the very least, he knew Nico would soon get sick of him. Everybody did. It just came sooner than expected.

When Nico opened his mouth to say something, Leo raised his hand. "Don't worry about it. I said I'd meet Piper after school and she wants to talk to me so I'll... I'll see you tomorrow in wood shop? You know, if I don't get suspended."

He didn't wait to hear Nico's reply as he walked away.

**A/N **... I'm sorry.

This chapter is the longest yet and still I feel like it was so unlike Leo? Gah. What is characterisation anyway.

Moving on. Percy is next. Phew. Less angst. (And more Percabeth.) :D /winkwink

(I swear you'll find out who stole the key soon. Shh.)


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: Thanksgiving**

It didn't take Piper long to come forward.

Technically, she didn't actually admit anything to the school. She'd told her father's publicist because she felt guilty and her father was filming in California. Her father's publicist had called her father and the school. Even though she was grounded, she managed to call Percy to tell him.

She was suspended for a week. Since her father was paying Will's hospital bills, his parents didn't demand anything else. Sure, she was getting a lot more detention time than the others – who had varying amounts, depending on whether or not they lied when the headmaster questioned them. But other than that, everything had turned out okay.

Except it hadn't.

Annabeth was mad at Percy for not telling her it was Piper who stole the key. She'd found it in Percy's swim bag, which he'd thought was pretty well-hidden.

When he'd seen the flashing lights, Percy saw the red lanyard sitting on the bleachers. Nobody else noticed it. In a panic, he dived for the key, yanking it accidentally off the lanyard and stuffing it in his pocket. He was grateful the cops hadn't done full-body searches; he'd be toast.

Annabeth still glared at him whenever she saw him. She'd almost risked everything, she said. Because she wanted to protect him. Because she thought he stole the key.

Oh.

"Well, it worked." Percy grinned nervously. "I didn't get suspended."

Annabeth punched him in his gut.

Their first detention fell on a Friday, which Leo moaned about. He'd been escorted to the detention by head's orders, since nobody trusted him. Percy knew how that felt; Annabeth had been the one to drag him there on time.

Leo stopped moaning when Nico came in. Percy half expected Nico to sit beside Leo, but he didn't even look at him. He stared in distaste around the class, carefully avoiding where Leo sat, and then sat down on the very front desk, a row away from Annabeth.

Leo stared at the back of his head, open-mouthed and eyebrows raised. Percy decided not to get involved.

Jason came in next, nodding and smiling bravely at Annabeth like, _We're in this together_. Piper followed, head down. Leo whistled for her, but she ignored him and when to sit on the row next to Percy. Hazel and Frank arrived immediately afterwards, out of breath like they'd sprinted the whole way.

"Traitors," Leo muttered in a quasi under-his-breath way, coughing. Frank glared at him.

Nobody else was in detention that day. Or maybe they were just isolated from everybody else, not trusted. That wouldn't be surprising. Percy just wished he had somebody to relive the tension.

The door slammed against the inner wall. Everybody straightened.

The teacher who'd opened the door staggered in. He had a long, white beard and crooked teeth. He reminded Percy of Santa Claus – you know, if Santa taught public high school. He looked up, and his eyes narrowed like he was studying the suspects.

Leo saluted. Hazel looked like she might cry, but no more than Frank. Piper stared at the floor with either disinterest or shame. Nico finally looked at Leo, but it was with contempt and not... whatever feelings they'd looked at each other with beforehand. Percy tried not to think about it; it confused him too much.

"Alright," Santa said. "Let's get this over with."

He dug out a piece of plain paper from a pile on the desk, and pointed his pen at Annabeth. "Name?"

"Annabeth Chase," she said, sounding all too professional. Percy leaned across his desk and tried to stretch his fingertips to tap her back, but she was too far away. He almost believed she did it on purpose.

He pointed at Leo.

"Name?"

"I'm Jason Grace," Leo said immediately, in a terrible, over the top mimic of Jason's voice. To match, he buffed out his chest. Percy and Piper snickered, and then covered their laughter up with coughing. Percy couldn't see Jason's face, but he bet it was a picture.

Percy sat up – and came face-to-face with Annabeth's glare. Whoa. He smiled, but Annabeth just looked at him more angrily. Then she turned away.

Percy leant across the table again, letting his hands fall over the sides. Annabeth not speaking to him was exhausting.

Santa looked at Leo unconvincingly. Percy had never seen this teacher before, so he knew there was no chance he knew Leo's name. Most probably his legacy, but he couldn't put name to face.

"Name?"

Percy peeked over his shoulder to see Jason. He was bright red. "Um," he said. "My name is Leo Valdez."

Santa let out an, "Ahh," and stroked his beard as though he knew all about that. Percy almost felt bad for Jason.

The others registered, and then Santa sat down behind the desk. "Let's just get this over with, shall we?" He flicked open the city's newspaper so it concealed his face – and put the front of the newspaper on full view to everybody.

Today it was about the election – again – which had been going on for a million years. This time, Percy recognised the background in his father's picture. It was the Town Hall. Great. That meant his dad had touched down, and that probably meant the other kids in the school wouldn't leave him alone about it, as though it wasn't embarrassing enough having a dad who was running for Mayor after an unsuccessful first term.

"Sir?" Leo said.

The newspaper flicked down. Santa looked up under a pair of reading glasses. "Hmm?"

"Who are you voting for?"

Carefully, the teacher set down the paper and pulled off his glasses. "Is this a ploy to try and get me to vote for your father, Grace?"

"Nah," Leo-as-Jason said. "I wouldn't."

Jason shot him a _Shut up_ look.

The teacher narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything. Percy thought the council members might have installed cameras to spy on their children after what had happened. He wouldn't be surprised. Better be careful what you say – especially about the Big Three – his father, Jason's and Nico's.

Percy didn't want to get on the wrong side of _any_ of them.

...

The detention was better than Percy expected. It was nicer having more than him and Leo and Matt Sloan in there. Around halfway through, Leo and Piper started flicking balls of paper around at each other. One of Leo's landed in the teacher's coffee cup – at that moment, the teacher took a huge swig. Even Frank laughed at that one.

Even though the detentions were fun, the week dragged on. Percy, Annabeth, Jason and Leo had the longest detentions – other than Piper of course. Nico's father had made the school narrow his time down, since he claimed Nico was under bad influence. Leo. Even though Leo and Nico didn't seem to be speaking anymore, which confused Percy.

Nico's father couldn't stop the press coverage. Pictures of the eight of them were plastered in the city newspaper alongside an article highlighting the terrible controversy this had caused and how it affected their parents' campaigns. They were called "Misfits".

After that week, the detentions got easier to deal with. Leo's sense of humour helped a lot. And while Percy didn't exactly like the idea of being in an enclosed classroom with toxic teachers who hated him, he found that the experience as a whole just resulted in a whole lot more time spent with Annabeth.

When their fifth detention rolled around, their most recent teacher, the jaded, middle-aged wood shop guy who spat a lot, was replaced by the art teacher, who needed help making decorations for Thanksgiving.

In turn, Percy's friend Rachel came, too, to guide them and help them. Percy didn't look at Annabeth.

Leo stuck up his hand, but as usual, he didn't wait for the teacher's indication before he spoke. "What if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving?"

Rachel unloaded a tray of colouring pencils in front of him, where he'd been instructed to sit on the front desk after his wood shop teacher caught him creating a sling shot for a huge pile of paper balls. "You don't celebrate Thanksgiving?"

"Nah, I do," Leo said. "Just speaking hypothetically."

"Hypothetically, that'd mean you'd get to be my model for my Christmas project."

Leo wiggled his eyebrows. "Nude model?"

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "Er, no. No thanks."

She walked over to Percy's desk and smiled. "Hey."

"Uh, hi," Percy said, scratching the back of his neck.

Rachel flicked a glance at Annabeth. There was a pause, and then she handed Percy some coloured card. "If you want, you can work in partners."

"So what are we doing?" Jason wondered.

"I hate Thanksgiving," Piper grumbled.

"Can we have a snack break?" Leo asked.

Rachel handed something to Annabeth, who turned around to Percy. Lately she had been loosening up on him, but it didn't stop him being scared of screwing up – again. It seemed all he did around Annabeth was disappoint her, and he didn't want to do that any more than he wanted to spend quality time with Ms. Dodds.

Annabeth passed forward a template and pulled a pencil from behind her hair. "I guess we're working together."

"I'm sorry," Percy said.

Annabeth glanced up. "Yeah. You've said."

Percy glanced at Piper, who was reluctantly colouring something in, while Jason concentrated on drawing something else – a very lopsided, misshaped turkey, Percy guessed. He looked at Annabeth pleadingly.

"Stop pulling that face," Annabeth said.

"Why?"

"It's not working."

Percy softened his pout and blinked away his puppy dog eyes. He felt his cheeks go hot. "Sorry."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Stop apologising. It's okay."

"But you're in detention!" Percy said. He looked around him at the small room, where Leo was working alone, secretly building something under the desk, while Jason and Piper chatted friendlily and coloured over the lines. Rachel was tracing something neatly, her eyes occasionally wandering to Percy and Annabeth.

"So?" Annabeth said.

Percy whipped his head to her so quickly he felt he might get whiplash. "What?"

"Shut up and finish your drawing."

"But–"

"Percy," Annabeth warned.

"But–" Percy stopped. "I'm sorry."

Annabeth jabbed him with her pencil.

...

Percy agreed with Piper: Thanksgiving sucked.

It wouldn't be so bad if he was just spending it with his mom, like he always had done, all his life, and her new boyfriend, who was actually a pretty cool guy. But when he came home and his mom had baked him blue cupcakes, he knew something was up.

Percy nearly groaned after his mom said, "I need to talk to you."

What now? he wanted to ask.

Instead, he stopped kicking his feet against the cupboard, lowered his cupcake, and said, "Oh? What's up?"

His mom wiped her hands on her jeans. "Guess who I saw yesterday."

Percy's cupcake tasted sour in his mouth. "Dad?"

"And Tyson," his mom said.

Tyson – Percy's lovable, clumsy half-brother on his father's side. Percy had to smile. True, he and Tyson hadn't really gotten along at first, which was more his fault than Tyson's. But now they were brothers, and Percy missed him. He was glad he was back.

Then there was his dad.

But Tyson was here, which almost balanced out that part.

"Your father was asking about you," his mom continued. Her mood had picked up some, probably since seeing how hearing about Tyson had improved Percy's mood. She nibbled the edge of a half-eaten cupcake. "He was asking about what you wanted for Christmas."

"That's, like, a month away – wait, he's staying_ that_ long?"

His mom frowned. "He wants you to spend Thanksgiving with him, Percy. At his new house."

Percy blinked. She couldn't be serious.

"Tyson will be there!" his mom told him as he hopped of the countertop, disregarding his cupcake. He'd suddenly lost his appetite. "Percy–"

"I think I'm gonna go," Percy said. He kissed her cheek. "Thanks for the cupcakes. They were awesome."

His mom smiled. "Are you going to see Annabeth?"

Percy tried not to blush. He rolled his eyes. "Mom."

"You two have just gotten so close lately. And if anybody can understand the pressures of the election, she can. She's a good person for you to have in your life. She's extremely intelligent, wise..."

Percy agreed. Then his mom said, "She's very pretty, too."

"Alright," Percy said. "I'm going."

His mom threw her hands up. She was smiling. "What?"

"Goodbye, Mom," Percy said.

"Have fun on your date!"

Percy closed the door and walked out onto the street, wondering what Annabeth would be doing on Thanksgiving. Wondering if her mom wanted to spend time with her like his father wanted to spend time with him – for once.

Annabeth had told him all sorts of stories about her mom. Percy didn't think he could handle that. At least he had Tyson.

Hearing about her mom just made Percy admire Annabeth more, if it were even possible, but he'd never admit that.

Now that he thought about it, Percy didn't know were he was going to go. He wanted to see Annabeth more than anything, but how could he? If her mom was there, she'd throw a book at his face before he even reached the front gate. On the other hand, his mom was right: Annabeth was a good person to have in his life, especially around this time, and he really wanted – needed – to talk to her about the election and Will. Since they weren't in school for a while, he missed seeing her...

He'd reached the end of his street.

Annabeth's house was a short walk away from his. He'd learned this after walking her home one day after a tutoring session at his house – before, you know, they realised what a stupid idea that was. To be fair, Annabeth had realised that first. But Percy liked not being tutored in school. He liked seeing Annabeth both in and out of school. He liked spending time with her.

His face was warm as he turned in her street. Honestly, he had no idea how she was going to react upon seeing him. He hoped _she_ didn't hit him with a book. He'd learned the hard way that Annabeth seemed to prefer hardback.

Through the frosted windows, he could see lights on in each room. As he neared the front door, he swore he could hear Annabeth's two younger half-siblings playing, and a TV in the background. Similarly to his own, he could smell baking – something chocolate – his favourite type of smell besides the sea.

He knocked once, took a step back and waited.

"I'll get it!" somebody called. There were footsteps, and then the door flung open.

An athletic man with sandy coloured hair stood in front of Percy, in his hand a set of toy soldiers. He sounded breathless and looked busy, but he still regarded Percy with a smile. "Are you a friend of Annabeth's?"

"Uh..." Percy nodded.

An Asian woman poked her head around the kitchen door, waved a knife and then disappeared. In the hallway, two young boys ran past each other, holding toy airplanes in the air and making flying noises. One of them grinned at Percy.

Annabeth had mentioned a lot about her family, but she hadn't told him how nice and normal they all seemed.

Annabeth's dad had gone to stand at the bottom of the stairs, and he was shouting something up to Annabeth. Percy wrung his hands together, hoping she wouldn't be mad at him.

Annabeth appeared. "Is it Thalia?"

Thalia – Thalia Grace? How did she come in to anything?

Then Annabeth saw him. She didn't yell, which was a plus. But she didn't look too happy to see him there either. She thanked her dad, who gave Percy a kind look and said, "You're welcome to stay for desert."

"Um, thanks," Percy said.

As soon as Annabeth's father had retreated back into the kitchen, Annabeth pushed Percy forward some. Just as he was sure she was trying to push him out of her house so she could slam the door on his face, she followed him out and closed it behind her instead. She crossed her arms, wearing only a Harvard college t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants in the freezing weather.

"What are you doing here, Percy?"

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't planned what he was going to say to her or how he was going to explain himself. "I thought we could go somewhere," he said at last – and looked down at Annabeth's ensemble. "Or... not."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "It's been snowing all day. And you want to go out in this weather?"

"I guess I just wanted to talk to you."

The curtain on the front window was drawn back some. Annabeth's two younger half-brothers were peeking through, probably wondering if Percy had kidnapped Annabeth. The same boy, the older one who had grinned at Percy before, saw that they had been caught and waved shyly at him.

"Are you okay?" Annabeth asked. The concern in her voice surprised Percy.

"My dad wants me to go to his on Thursday," he said.

"For Thanksgiving?"

Percy nodded. "My brother will be there." He told Annabeth about Tyson, and how he hadn't seen him in a long time. When Annabeth asked him if he was happy, he told her yes – because how couldn't he be?

He shook his head. "Sorry. I guess I was just confused."

Annabeth made a teasing face, like, Just this once? "So is that the only reason you came here, Seaweed Brain?"

"Uh," Percy said.

Annabeth smiled. "My stepmom has been teaching my brothers to bake all day. You can stay and have some chocolate cake if you want. It's not really that bad."

"Are you sure? Won't your dad be, you know, mad at me for..."

"If you say sorry again..." Annabeth warned.

"Sorry," Percy said.

The door opened slightly. Annabeth's dad appeared, smiling. He'd put down his toy soldiers. "Cake is ready. Are you coming?"

"Just a second, dad," Annabeth said.

Mr Chase's smile grew wider and he closed the door behind him. Percy felt the inviting warmth from inside seep out and make him shiver. Nothing sounder better than going inside for cake.

"Percy?" Annabeth said.

"Uh-huh?"

Even if he had been paying attention, he didn't think his mind would fully register what was happening. Annabeth stepped forward – and she kissed him. He didn't know whether it was the strong cocoa smell or the fact it was Annabeth, but suddenly he had vertigo.

She pulled back. "Happy Thanksgiving, Percy."

Maybe Thanksgiving didn't suck as a much as he thought.

**A/N **Obviously the Christmas chapter is going to be late, which sucks, but I hope you guys can settle with a poorly-executed almost-Thanksgiving. Yikes. Percy's POV continues to kick my ass.

In other news, I just loved the response to the last chapter, even if I'm sure you all hate me because of it. :D Here's hoping I will release the next chapter (Nico's) more quickly than I did this one.

Since I doubt it'll be up tomorrow and I won't get to say this: **Merry Christmas!** Have a great one!

(P.S. I listened to Bonfire Heart by James Blunt while writing this chapter. I have a lot of Percabeth/Valdangelo feelings. Gods.)


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen: Reconciliations **

For such an uproarious boy, Leo could make himself expertly well-hidden when he wanted to.

Nico didn't see Leo at all for a straight week after their conversation. Leo had started skipping wood shop again, and their teacher was so disinterested in the school year – since it was "almost Christmas" – that he barely noticed Leo was gone anymore, even though he was his best, most hard-working student.

As a result, Nico had nothing to do in shop class anymore. Not even limited to shop, just in general; he'd gotten so close to Leo, and now they were just not talking, as though they didn't know each other. As though nothing had happened between them. Even if they didn't talk about it, they couldn't ignore it.

Except that was exactly what they were doing.

Nico was a loner again. Hazel took notice one day, and forcefully tugged on his coat sleeve so they were standing in the doorway of a random empty classroom, away from the sea of students flooding through the hall.

"What is the matter with you?" Hazel said. Her tone was harsh and unforgiving – but as usual, her eyes were gentle. She was desperate. She cared about him enough to be like that.

So naturally he pushed her away.

"Nothing, Hazel." He benignly removed her hand from his sleeve. "I'm fine. Go to class."

"You're clearly not fine," Hazel said sadly.

Nico couldn't stand looking into her eyes any longer so he turned away. Already the halls of their school were decked out in Christmas decorations: fake snow, snowflakes, boughs of holly, etc. Nico wondered if every public school was like this. As soon as Thanksgiving rolled around, immediately they switched it up for Christmas.

The students had certainly gotten in the holiday spirit. Since the fraught atmosphere after Will's accident, they certainly needed something uplifting.

Nico spotted Leo almost immediately. His face started heating up, and he didn't know whether it was because he was angry or embarrassed.

Leo was talking to a girl Nico didn't recognise. She had cinnamon coloured hair, which was braided down her back. She was pretty, but of course Nico didn't care about that. At Leo she looked thoroughly unimpressed. Nico thought that was unfair – and then he saw Leo's expression shift into one he'd seen a lot. His eyebrows were raised, mouth wide-open, hands in the air beside him.

Nico wondered what they were arguing about. Then he remembered he didn't care.

Hazel had followed his gaze. When she spoke, she sounded angrier than Nico had ever heard. "What did he do?"

"Nothing," Nico said.

Hazel turned on him. "Don't lie to me, Nico. Has he upset you? Sometimes he says things... I'm sure he doesn't mean them. He only shuts his mouth when it suits him."

"I've noticed," Nico said bitterly.

He knew a lot had gone on between Leo and Hazel, but he didn't know what. Frank disliked Leo, that was for sure. But Nico had never asked, because he didn't feel it was any of his business.

"Nico?" Hazel said.

When he looked back to where Leo had been standing, talking to the girl, they were both gone.

Nico shook his head. He kissed Hazel's cheek. "Just go to class. Don't worry about me."

Hazel nodded. But before she left, she leaned forward so she could whisper, "Did Dad do something?"

Nico tensed. He preferred not to think about that.

"No, Hazel," he said. "I'm fine. I promise."

Hazel reluctantly nodded again, and she gave him a one-armed hug, as though she was afraid to break him.

Frank was standing a few feet away, his hands in his pockets. When Hazel turned out of the little enclave they had been standing in with Nico following, Frank looked terrified. One look at Hazel made him fumble a quick hello to Nico, but Nico didn't hold conversation. Didn't know how to – except with...

He didn't want to think about it.

He also tried not to notice the worried look Hazel gave him the second before she and Frank turned into the end stairwell.

He looked down at his timetable, even though he didn't need to. He just wanted to be wrong – for once – about this first lesson. Of course it was shop. It always seemed to be, although one thought about it reminded him that actually, this was the last shop lesson he had before the Christmas break. (With Leo. If he showed up.)

He didn't hope Leo would show up. (Because he didn't want to be disappointed.)

Early, he turned into the classroom. Their teacher wasn't there yet, and possibly wouldn't be for another ten or fifteen minutes, even though the class started in five. There were a few other kids mulling around, hefting big wooden ships and putting on finishing touches. Then he remembered.

Today they were supposed to hand in their ship projects.

Nico squeezed his eyes shut. He'd grown used to Leo not showing up, but he really hoped his idiotic ex-more-than-friend (whatever he was) was sitting at the back bench. He really hoped...

He opened his eyes.

Leo wasn't sitting down. He was standing, his expert hands floating around the ship – the _Argo II_ with so much ease Nico couldn't help but be impressed. Even though he hated to admit it, Leo was great at what he did.

Leo didn't see him standing there.

He didn't move forward until somebody bumped something into his back. He turned around and faced the _Titanic_. "Sorry," a girl said around it. She looked genuinely terrified when she saw it was Nico who she'd hit.

"Nice ship," he said.

When he reached the back bench, where Leo was putting the finishing touches on the _Argo II_, he dragged out his stool and sat down. He wanted to ask if there was anything he could do, but he couldn't form the words. Besides, Leo still hadn't noticed him. He was so enthralled in his work that he wouldn't have noticed if a dinosaur appeared outside the window and stole Ms. Dodds from the second floor window.

Leo carried on working. Nico stared straight ahead.

People were staring at the _Argo II_, probably because it didn't exactly look like wood. And it didn't exactly look like two 15/16-year-old boys had built it. Nico would've felt embarrassed, but something else settled in its place. Something along the lines of pride.

Nico was barely aware somebody was staring at him. Not the _Argo II_, and not the usual stares he received.

He didn't need to look much further than about a foot away. When Nico looked at Leo, Leo's head drooped. He hid behind the front of the Argo II, where Festus, aka Mini Leo, had his head turned accusingly at Nico, almost like he had a mind of his own. Nico shuddered.

A few more minutes passed. Quiet, on their part. The rest of the class chatted amongst one another about their ships. Nico and Leo never talked to any of the others. They also talked to each other... Of course that was out of the question now, but Nico felt kind of awkward, not having anything to do or anything to say.

As though by answer, the little black dragon fell off his standing. Nico reached to pick it up – at the same time as Leo, but their hands didn't touch. Leo further occupied himself with something else. Nico cleared his throat.

"Where do you want him?" he said.

Leo poked his head around the ship. "Um..." Nico noted that he didn't look at him. But he didn't care. "Right here. He keeps doing that."

"What?"

"Falling off," he said. "Trying to escape. Festus scares him."

"Right," Nico said. He placed the dragon back on, hoping he didn't fall again.

The door swung open just as Leo clapped his hands together, obviously very pleased with himself. Even though he hated it, Nico couldn't help but notice how Leo's usual zeal had disappeared. Nico didn't think there was anything Leo liked more than mechanics, building things and fixing things... But he seemed less excited now.

Maybe that had to do with the fact it was the first time they were facing each other since _that_ conversation.

Nico's lips pulled back into a scowl, which he couldn't help. Leo shouldn't have accused him of anything he didn't understand. When Nico thought like that, he felt angry at Leo. Angry at himself, too, but that wasn't unusual. And when he was angry at Leo, he remembered that he didn't want to talk to him. Not anymore.

Not much.

Their teacher seemed genuinely impressed at the projects. Nico was, too, because for a bunch of freshman, they had built some pretty impressive things. When their teacher looked directly at the _Argo II_, his face split into a smile so wide, Nico could see like a dentist.

"Valdez..." he said, sounding impressed. As common procedure, the class swivelled in their chairs to stare at the back of the room, where the _Argo II_ just managed to cover Leo and Nico's faces. They had to shift their chairs to be seen, although only Leo did that.

"And Nico," Leo said, which wasn't exactly true, unless painting and occasionally hammering some nails was gradeable in wood shop.

"I bet," the teacher said. "And a few seniors? College freshman? Parents?"

The whole class laughed. Leo looked perplexed, like, What are you trying to say? He raised an eyebrow. "Nah. Just us."

Mostly Leo, Nico thought.

Their teacher raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Uh, yeah," Leo said. He glanced at Nico, like, Can you believe this? As though building something as grand as the _Argo II_ was something a sophomore in high school couldn't do. Well...

Their teacher actually _giggled_, stroking his stubble and sighing, as though he'd just heard a five year old say something moderately amusing. Leo didn't look amused, not in the slightest.

Nico knew Leo was about to get angry. Instead of saying anything – saying anything was always his weakest point – he made the arbitrary decision to shift his chair closer to Leo's. He hoped Leo noticed and – Nico didn't know, maybe gained some courage?

"I'm not arguing with you about this, Valdez," their teacher said tiredly. He rubbed the spot between his eyes, which was wrinkled and hairy.

"You don't have to," Leo said. "If you just take back what you said in the first place."

Just as Nico thought their teacher had given in – he'd turned to start the lesson properly – he raised both his bushy eyebrows, and left his hand in midair, as though he was holding something up. He his hands were large – workman's hands. Unfortunately, Nico doubted they could hold back Leo's ego.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Leo said. It was supposed to be hushed and under his breath – but Leo couldn't be anything but loud. Loud enough that their teacher heard perfectly.

Great, Nico thought. Then, Shut _up_, Leo.

Nico couldn't deny Leo had earned that giant ego. He was great at what he did, and then better than that. Nico would've been jealous, if he had any desire at all to build or create. When Leo worked, it was easy to become lost in his movements. Admiration, he earned. Respect. Bragging rights, even.

Clearly he hadn't earned trust.

Their teacher obviously didn't believe that Leo (and Nico) had built the ship, because he wouldn't just let the conversation fall flat. Leo wouldn't let him win – and rightly so, really. On his part, Nico just wished he could melt into his aviator jacket and then melt through the stool and then melt through the floor. He couldn't deal with everybody staring at him.

He realised somebody was saying his name. "Nico? _Nico_."

It was Leo, and then the teacher, and then Leo. He blinked.

"Tell him," Leo said in a forced whisper. Evidently he'd forgotten that he and Nico weren't speaking. "Tell him that we both built this."

If Nico was feeling particularly smart, he'd make a point of saying that actually, Leo was the only one who built the _Argo II_. He just painted it and acted as a caddy. But he didn't even know what he was feeling (though it definitely was not smart), so he just shook his head. Then nodded quickly, because he was supposed to nod.

"He's not lying," Nico said. Sometimes when Nico spoke, teachers would say, "Sorry?" just to make him talk a little bit louder. Sometimes Hazel did it, although he thought her reasoning was actually because she couldn't hear him.

Sometimes Leo would say it, teasing, and Nico would glare, and Leo would kiss him until his face relaxed.

The shop teacher was the worse to make him talk louder; he always did it. "_Sorry?_" he said now.

"We both built it," Nico said. He flashed a look over at Leo, who nodded slowly, his eyes wide, like, Go on. Nico gritted his teeth. "We... Leo worked really, really hard on this. It's true."

For a minute their teacher was silent. The _Titanic_ girls in front of Nico and Leo yawned. A few other kids were muttering on the rows next to them. Then their teacher snorted.

"Nico, can I ask you to do something?"

"Okay?"

"Ask Piper McLean if you can see her detention slips. Count how many say, 'Lying for Leo Valdez'."

Leo shot up, his back as straight as a brick wall. "Are you kidding? Nico's not lying!"

As was the case for the past few weeks, what with Will's accident and the elections and detentions (which Nico had narrowly escaped, thank god – or thank _dad_, really), Leo was feeling pretty defensive, it seemed. He was always on the edge, and his nervous energy was channelling frustration.

"Tell him," Leo said, whipping around to face Nico.

"I _have_," Nico said quietly.

Their teacher had moved behind his desk, and he was shaking his head. Going to his front drawers, he pulled out a few pink slips – detention slips. Nico sincerely hoped they weren't for him. As their teacher glanced up at the back of the classroom, he started scribbling something down on them.

Leo got even more defensive, if it were even possible. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Lying and arguing back," their teacher said easily.

"_Lying?_"

"Unless you want to admit who else helped up on building this ship," he said, "your overall grade is being lowered to a D-minus."

"_What?_"

The detention slips were handed to Nico and Leo. Nico peaked at his, and it said exactly what their teacher had told him to look for on Piper's, as though he was actually going to do that. He didn't think that was fair – but it was worse for Leo. He glared at the pink (familiar) paper and then stuffed it in his blazer pocket.

Leo didn't say another word for the rest of the lesson. Honestly, Nico wouldn't have had it any other way.

...

When the lesson ended and the _Argo II_ was shifted into a back cupboard – "until I know what to do with it," their teacher said – Leo looked seriously devastated. He didn't look at Nico or their teacher or anybody else; he slung his backpack onto one shoulder and left.

The other students filed out at the same time, some making faces at Leo and others talking amongst themselves. As was the case before he befriended Leo, Nico stayed behind, preferring to wait until they were all gone.

Their teacher stood at his desk, and when Nico got up to leave, he gave him a disappointed look, almost like he was saying, "I thought you were different."

"You know," Nico said as he reached the door, "Leo was really looking forward to today. He thought it was going to be on display at the Christmas fair. He worked really hard, and..." He hadn't thought this over; it was stupid to say anything at all.

He swallowed. "And I really think that you should give him a chance."

He let the door close behind him.

...

Hazel had an extracurricular after school, so she couldn't walk home with Nico. Obviously, she offered, considering she thought Nico needed even more looking after lately. But Nico shut her down.

"I've got some things to think about anyway," he said, returning her sisterly hug. "It's okay."

When Hazel left, Nico stood at his locker and tied his scarf around his neck, wondering which route he was going to take home today. He hadn't seen Leo all day, so he could assume he'd skipped all his lessons and cooped himself up in the garage, sulking. Somehow he knew that wasn't the case.

Nico took one last look at the photo in his locker, which made his heart heavy. Bianca's smiling face; Nico so innocent... If only he could go back. If anything, it'd taught him not to take for granted the people he cared about. One day they're there, the next they're gone – that was especially the case with Bianca.

He closed his locker and walked down the hallway, decision made.

...

Leo wasn't at the garage. Strange, even if school had only just finished. Leo was _always_ there. He always skipped last lesson with Piper and then hung out here, where Nico would... Well, where Nico _used_ to meet him. Obviously that wasn't happening anymore. But Nico didn't really care.

Come to think of it, he didn't know why he was here. He didn't know what he was going to say.

It was a big mistake.

"_Nico?_ What are you doing here?"

Even though it was clearly Leo's voice, Nico hoped it was Nyssa. He turned around.

Leo stood in front of him; he had a less angry expression, but there was still a guarded look on his face. He never used to be like that – but it wasn't Nico's fault he was now. It was his. For assuming.

For assuming Nico didn't care about him.

"I wanted to see you," Nico said, not adding "_obviously_".

"Oh?" Leo said. "You saw me in school."

"You know what I mean."

Leo nodded, though he didn't look like he did. He dug out a set of keys from his tool belt and unlocked the garage door. Leo waited for it to pull open, and then he turned to Nico. "Well?"

Nico followed him inside and waited to see if he'd close the door again, like Nico used to make him. Now that he thought about it, it did look bad. Like he was ashamed of his and Leo's thing, even though that was completely wrong. He wasn't ashamed of Leo, just...

"Nico?"

Leo didn't close it. He leant against one of the workbenches and crossed his arms. All that tapping, the building, the pushing of his hair behind his ears... It'd stopped. He still had his sense of humour but in smaller dosages. There was something else there, something upsetting, something that was so unlike Leo it hurt to watch it unfold.

Nico took a deep breath. "Leo."

"Nico."

"We have to talk," Nico said evenly, and then: "You know. About that thing."

Leo perked up some. But there was still the same look on his face. "Yeah. Okay. So what about it? You've never wanted to talk about it before."

"I just assumed..."

"Assumed what? That it was something I did regularly? That I was used to it?" Leo slapped his hands to his sides. Nico watched his fingers, waiting to see if he'd start tapping his leg. He did – but it wasn't as excited as it used to be.

"No," Nico said. "Not that."

"Not that." Leo shook his head. "Alright. So you just assumed I was okay with not talking about it, even though I tried..."

"I assumed you weren't like me," Nico said sharply, and he looked up from staring at the concrete. Leo was staring at the tires of a car, but when Nico said that, he looked up too, about as sharp as Nico's tone.

It took a minute for Leo to say anything. "I guess I'm not. I still like girls but..." He took a shaky breath. "I don't know."

Nico's face felt about as red as the car Leo wouldn't stop staring at it.

"I've never done anything like this before," Leo continued. "Not with a girl either but that's not the point. I thought I liked you. I've never felt anything to any other guys."

_Thought. Liked. _

Nico felt bile in his mouth. He swallowed, but it only made him feel worse. He felt like he might be scowling, but he couldn't be sure. Sometimes it just happened.

"Nico?" Leo said.

"So we can't... We're obviously not going to..." Nico's voice cracked. He hated how vulnerable he was feeling, especially since normally people were scared of him. This was such a foreign feeling, he couldn't help feeling emotional. Scared even – of those emotions coming back.

"Not going to what?" Leo's voice was surprisingly soft, gentle.

"You said I was your best friend," Nico said, wanting to believe it. Wanting to have something to hold on to.

Leo blinked. "Yeah."

"But not anymore?" Nico snapped.

"Well, yeah," Leo said, scratching the back of his neck. "Wait. Are you saying you want to be friends?"

"Yes. No. I don't know." Nico let out a frustrated yell. Leo didn't flinch.

"You want... more?" Leo said. "You want the thing back?"

"We should stop calling it a thing," Nico said.

Leo might've smiled. "Yeah. That would be smart. Unfortunately, I'm still, like, super confused about this whole thing. Are we...?"

"Something," Nico said. "Something more than just a thing, I think."

"Oh," Leo said. "Right."

Nico looked up sheepishly. "If that's what you want."

"I never said I didn't want it."

"You also never said you did."

"You never gave me a chance," Leo said, rocking back on his heels. He started tapping his legs. Nico caught it and smiled, although he still felt shaky and uncomfortable. There was a sickly taste in his mouth. It wasn't Leo's fault – in fact, this had made him a little bit happier. It was a greater feeling, a burden hanging over him.

He took another deep breath. "Leo."

"Yep?"

"I can't tell anybody," Nico said, so quietly that even _whisper_ didn't cover it, and looked at the concrete, at his shoes. Anywhere but at Leo. "I just... can't. I mean, maybe soon, but I'm still getting used to..."

"Oh." Leo didn't sound mad. When Nico stole a look, he didn't _look_ mad either. He looked thoughtful. "It's hard, huh, coming to terms with it..." Leo laughed nervously. Nico nodded, but only a little; "coming to terms with it" didn't really cover how Nico had felt for almost five years.

Nico still felt too ashamed to look up completely. But in the corner of his eye, he saw the remote being lifted. The button being pressed. And the door to the garage sliding shut.

"Well. I still can't believe we worked that hard on the ship and now it won't even be on show next week." Leo shook his head, and then looked to the ceiling as though he was looking for guidance from the gods.

Nico walked forward. Leo carried on, oblivious. "He's such a jerk. And he's making me go to another detention. By this rate, I'll never – Uh, Nico?"

"Shut up, Leo," Nico said.

He smiled shyly, leant forward, and pressed his lips to Leo's.

**A/N **Well, finally. I mean the chapter, but I guess finally they're sorted, huh? :D

This was a pain to write (and rewrite, and rewrite). I had no idea what to do or how they would come to be in the situation. Also, let's ignore how wood shop is the only class I seem to write. It's fun. It's Nico/Leo time. And subsequently the only class they have together... /shhhhh

In other news, this story is very nearly at 10,000 views. That's incredible. So thanks! :D

Have a great new year, you guys. I love you.


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